Jakarta , November 13 (VNA) – Indonesia ’s central bank on November 12 increased its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 7.5 percent, the highest since 2009, in a bid to improve the current account deficit.
Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor Agus Martowardojo said the move also aims to aid the domestic currency and curb trade deficit, which climbed to 657 million USD in September.
The bank projected that Indonesia ’s current account deficit would shrink to 8.4 billion USD in the third quarter from 9.85 billion USD in the second quarter.
However, the national statistics agency put the figure at just 6.3 billion USD.
Vietnam News Agency
