(MENAFN) Data showed that Indonesia's inflation rate surged in December, while its trade balance swung to a deficit after the President hiked fuel prices by 30 percent, Oman Observer reported.
Inflation surged to 8.36 percent in December on-year and went up 6.23 percent from November. The trade balance also suffered as it swung to a deficit of USD425.7 million from a small surplus of USD20 million in October.
Transportation cost adjustments in December that pushed up food prices during the holiday season were the main reason for the higher-than-expected inflation, the Statistics Agency said.
"These data are surprising, the inflation is much higher than our expectation, while the trade deficit is bigger than our estimate," chief economist at Indonesia's Bank Central Asia said.
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