JAKARTA, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Annual inflation rate in Indonesia accelerated at a slower pace in August, giving more rooms to the central bank to continue loosening policy, the national statistics bureau announced on Monday.
The annual consumer price index eased to 3.82 percent in August from a year earlier, compared with 3.88 percent in July.
On month, inflation reached minus 0.07 percent in August from 0.22 percent in July, due to decline in some of food prices and transportation tariffs, head of the bureau Kecuk Suhariyanto said.
"Deflation was caused by (decrease) of prices of onion and garlic, and decline in transport cost," he told a press conference at the bureau headquarters.
Core inflation, scraping volatile food prices and administered prices, continued to decrease to 2.98 percent in August from a year ago, compared with 3.05 percent in July, Suhariyanto added.
The Indonesian central bank, Bank Indonesia, cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 4.5 percent last month, after applying a neutral stance since October of last year, as it aims to help spur GDP growth.
Bank Indonesia has estimated that inflation would be 4 percent or lower at the end of this year.
Indonesia needs to accelerate its GDP growth at a faster pace at the second and third quarters to meet its 5.4 percent growth target this year, after it expanded steadily 5.01 percent at the first half.
