Again, Bank Indonesia Maintains Reference Interest Rate Of 3.50 Percent

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Bank Indonesia (BI) took steps to extend the BI 7-Day Reverse Repo Rate (BI7DRR) policy rate at 3.50 percent. The same also applies to the deposit facility and lending facility rates which have not changed at 2.75 percent and 4.25 percent, respectively.

BI Governor Perry Warjiyo said that this decision was taken based on the results of the Board of Governors' Meeting (RDG) which was held since the beginning of the week.

"This decision is in line with the need to maintain exchange rate stability and control inflation as well as efforts to encourage economic growth," he said when giving a press statement to the media crew online on Tuesday, April 19.

According to him, he also explained that his party did not deny that there was currently external pressure triggered by world geopolitical tensions.

“Another factor is the acceleration of monetary policy normalization in developed countries, especially the United States. To that end, BI will continue to maximize the policy mix to maintain stability and support further economic recovery," he said.

For information, the central bank's strategy to maintain the benchmark interest rate of 3.50 percent has been going on since 2020 in order to anticipate excess pressure in the economic sector due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Perry himself had said that the decision to increase the bi rate would only be implemented if the inflation rate had reached a certain target.

"The interest rate will be maintained at 3.50 percent until there are signs of an increase and fundamental inflationary pressures," he said some time ago.