JAKARTA: Indonesia's central bank kept its overnight benchmark rate unchanged Thursday at 5.75 percent, as expected, but said it will continue raising interest rates to quell inflation and maintain growth.
"Bank Indonesia will raise interest rates of monetary operation instruments and continue efforts to absorb excess rupiah liquidity in order to control short-term inflationary pressure and support stabilisation of rupiah," Bank Indonesia said in a statement.
Indonesia kept its benchmark interest rate at a record low of 5.75 percent since it slashed the rate by 25 basis points in February, as Southeast Asia's biggest economy tries to sustain its growth amid a global slowdown.
The board of governors said in the statement that it considered Indonesia's economic growth has remained "strong in the midst of pressure by the global economic slowdown", despite weaker global demand for Indonesian exports.
The Central Statistics Agency reported earlier this week that Indonesia's economic growth slowed in the first quarter of this year, reined by sluggish exports.
Gross domestic product expanded 6.3 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, slower than the 6.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011.
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