Indonesia central bank keeps rates unchanged for 4th straight meeting

JAKARTA: Indonesia's central bank held its main interest rates at a record low for a fourth straight meeting, seeking to keep monetary policy accommodative as COVID-19 cases rise, while also aiming to keep financial markets stable amid global uncertainty.

Bank Indonesia (BI) kept the benchmark 7-day reverse repurchase rate at a record low of 3.50per cent, as expected by all 26 economists in a Reuters poll.

The overnight deposit facility and lending facility rates were also left at 2.75per cent and 4.25per cent, respectively.

Since 2020, BI has slashed interest rates by a total of 150 basis points, pumped more than US$57 billion of liquidity into the financial system and relaxed lending rules to help the economy recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

(Reporting by Gayatri Suroyo, Fransiska Nangoy and Tabita Diela; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa and Alex Richardson)