Bank Indonesia Looking at Tightening Policy From Late Next Year
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Bank Indonesia could begin tightening monetary policy next year, including potential moves on interest rates, if the economic recovery remains on track and policy makers see signs of inflation, Governor Perry Warjiyo said Friday.
The bank’s exit strategy is to gradually reduce liquidity in the financial system “and then later, the end of next year, maybe some interest-rate action,” Warjiyo told Bloomberg Television’s Haslinda Amin. “But this is very uncertain.”
Bank Indonesia has kept its benchmark interest rate at a record low 3.50% since February as a spike in Covid-19 cases overwhelms hospitals and oxygen supplies. The economy is still expected to expand 4.1%-5.1% this year as early indicators, such as in the payment system, show no “significant decline” so far, even as the central bank is assessing the outlook, Warjiyo said.
Growth is seen hitting 6.3% and 5.5% in the third and fourth quarters, respectively, he added.
The government recently downgraded its own forecast for the economy to 3.7%-4.5% growth this year, from 4.5%-5.3% previously after it reinstated stringent movement curbs over large parts of the country.
Rather than cutting rates further right now, Warjiyo said the central bank would “maintain this low interest rate” and push banks to pass it on.
“What we’re focusing on now, we’re pushing the banks to follow suit,” he said. “We’re focusing more how to ensure the effectiveness or the transmission of our policy.”
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As rising poverty and unemployment amid the pandemic send Indonesia back to lower-middle income status, the government may need to risk a wider budget deficit to accommodate higher stimulus spending and delayed tax hikes.
The bank will closely watch how the pandemic impacts domestic consumption, the cornerstone of Southeast Asia’s largest economy. For now, exports will continue driving economic growth thanks to the recovery in the U.S. and China, Warjiyo said.
Policy Normalization
The central bank is readying macroprudential measures, which could include fiscal incentives, to support small and medium enterprises, as well as hotels and restaurants, he said. An earlier move to ease down-payment requirements proved effective in prodding housing and car loans.
“With domestic Covid trajectory weighing on the growth outlook, it might be prudent for Bank Indonesia to start dropping hints to the market on eventual monetary policy normalization plans. At the very least, it helps to ease a key driver of market uncertainty,” said Yanxi Tan, foreign exchange strategist at Malayan Banking Bhd in Singapore.
Bank Indonesia’s focus for the rest of the year is on keeping rates low and liquidity flush to support the economy, and maintaining a stable exchange rate, Warjiyo said.
“We need to dance with the market, to ensure the stability of the exchange rate, the government bond yield, giving some room for adjustment but measurable, controllable and stable,” he said.
(Updates throughout with growth outlook and analyst comment.)
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