JAKNEWS.COM---Indonesian inflation is expected to rise at a faster pace in April from a year ago, driven by higher food prices, economists said.

Ten economists surveyed by Thomson Financial are expecting the consumer price index due for release on Friday to show a rise of 8.5 percent to 9.0 percent on the year, and to be up 0.2 percent to 0.5 percent from the previous month.

In March, inflation rose 8.17 percent from a year earlier and was up 0.95 percent versus February.

"Food prices will likely continue to be a source of inflationary pressure in April, as they are across the region," said David Cohen, chief economist at Action Economics.

Gundy Cahyadi, an economist at Ideaglobal Ltd, agreed.

"We have not seen a material reduction in food prices, while the price of cooking oil continues to be bolstered by higher crude oil prices globally," said Cahyadi.

Economists are expecting raw food prices to continue to rise in April, although the increase may have slowed from March as the rice price stabilizes. The start of the crop harvest in March and April should have added more supply to the domestic market.

"That's why month-on-month inflation will be lower in April," said Eric Sugandi, economist at Standard Chartered Bank.

The acceleration of the year-on-year rate is mainly due to the big month-on-month increase in the last four months, he said.

Rice is the most popular staple in Indonesia, the world's fourth most-populous nation.

Prices have fallen in some cities since March, but prices of prepared foods continued to rise on higher prices for imported goods.
 

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