Unemployment continues to fall across Indonesia, although the vast majority of employment is both informal and focused within primary industries. The introduction of GR8/2025, a revised Export Earnings Rule from GR36/2023 is expected to boost FOREX reserves by circa USD100Bn pa, but requires exporters of a wide range of primary industry products to retain 100% of earnings within Indonesia’s banking system for a full 12 months after receipt.
Monetary Policy, Inflation & Interest Rates
Amid global uncertainty, not least over US trade policy, Bank Indonesia (BI) showed caution in maintaining the benchmark interest rate at 5.75% in March, adhering to average market expectations (Goldman Sachs and HSBC predicted 25bps cut, whilst JPM and Scotiabank forecast a hold). In February core inflation rose to 2.5%, although year-on-year this actually represented deflation of -1.0% due to electricity tariff discounts. In 2024 some areas of the country experienced higher inflation than others, wit...
You must be signed in to read this content. Please enter your user name and password below for access. Want the full Brief? Register free for full access to 16+ countries. Register for free here.