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JAKARTA, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian central bank on Thursday resumed easing policy to support economic growth amid subdued inflation and narrowed current account deficit after the U.S. Fed Reserve kept its rate steady.
The bank governor board meeting decided to trim the seven-day reverse repurchase rate 25 basis points to 5 percent, Agus Martowardojo, governor of the bank said.
Martowardojo said that rupiah has been relatively stable against U.S. dollars.
He cited that the loosened policy was expected to spur domestic demand in the country where consumption mainly contributes to economic expansion.
Previously, Perry Warjiyo, deputy at the bank revealed that the easing policy also aims at supporting exports, which some of them, non-oil and gas exports, started picking up in August.
The central bank had aggressively applied easing policy earlier this year by cutting its then-benchmark, the 12-month reference rate, four times in a bid to support economic growth.
Annual inflation reached 2.79 percent in August, the lowest since December 2009 and is in the range of the bank's inflation estimates, 3.5 percent for this year and 4 percent for next year.
The Southeast Asia's largest economy expands 4.8 percent last year, and is expected to grow 5.1 to 5.2 percent this year.
The rupiah has gained 5.3 percent against the greenback this year and was at the level of 13,098 on Thursday, according to the bank.
