Indonesia's central bank holds its benchmark interest rate at 5.75 pct

STORY: Indonesia's central bank holds its benchmark interest rate at 5.75 pct DATELINE: April 19, 2023 LENGTH: 00:02:41 LOCATION: Jakarta CATEGORY: ECONOMY SHOTLIST: 1. Various of press conference STORYLINE: Bank Indonesia (BI) on Tuesday decided to hold the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 5.75 percent after a two-day meeting of the Board of Governors. Governor of BI Perry Warjiyo said that this decision was part of the forward-looking monetary policy to secure the future fall in inflation. "Bank Indonesia believes that the BI 7-Day Reverse Repo Rate (BI7DRRR) of 5.75 percent is sufficient to direct core inflation under control in the range of 2 to 4 percent in the remainder of 2023," Warjiyo said in a press conference on Tuesday. The target is in sight as the country's inflation continues to decline. The inflation rate dropped to 4.97 percent year-on-year in March from 5.47 percent year-on-year in February. Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Jakarta. (XHTV)

ASEAN to switch to local currency use in region to avoid crisis

STORY: ASEAN to switch to local currency use in region to avoid crisis DATELINE: April 1, 2023 LENGTH: 00:01:00 LOCATION: Jakarta CATEGORY: ECONOMY SHOTLIST: 1. various of the ASEAN meeting 2. SOUNDBITE (English): PERRY WARJIYO, Governor of Bank Indonesia 3. various of footage of Southeast Asian countries STORYLINE: Indonesia's central bank said on Friday that southeast Asian countries have agreed to reinforce the use of local currencies in the region and reduce reliance on major international currencies in an effort to avoid spillover from the global crisis. The agreement came on the last day of a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members. SOUNDBITE (English): PERRY WARJIYO, Governor of Bank Indonesia "In this aspect, the ASEAN region agrees to reinforce the external and financial resilience among others through the use of local currency to support cross-border trade and investment in the ASEAN region. Current challenges and hea