KONTAN.CO.ID - JAKARTA. Indonesia's central bank kept interest rates steady on Tuesday, holding fire for a third straight meeting to avoid adding pressure to a falling rupiah but reiterated its pledge to use quantitative easing measures to support the economy. Bank Indonesia (BI) kept the 7-day reverse repurchase rate at 4.00%, as expected in a Reuters poll, after delivering 100 basis points of rate cuts so far this year. Southeast Asia's largest economy is headed for its first recession in over two decades with the coronavirus outbreak still raging in the country with the largest COVID-19 death toll in the region.
"We see that (quantitative easing measures) are more effective to support the national economy," Governor Perry Warjiyo said in a streamed news briefing, underlining that BI has injected 667.6 trillion rupiah ($45.45 billion) of fresh liquidity to fight the pandemic's impact. Baca Juga: Bank Indonesia menahan suku bunga acuan di level 4% pada rapat dewan gubernur Oktober BI has also cut interest rates four times this year, cut required reserves and loosened lending rules to fight the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
