Indonesia central bank keeps key rate unchanged at 6.00%, as expected

BANK INDONESIA / BI - JAKARTA. Indonesia's central bank held its policy interest rate unchanged on Thursday, but moved to cut the reserve requirement for banks to boost liquidity after saying it was monitoring global financial conditions to assess room for a rate cut.

Bank Indonesia (BI) left the 7-day reverse repurchase rate at 6.00%, Governor Perry Warjiyo told a news briefing, meeting the expectations of 19 of 22 analysts polled by Reuters.

Bank Indonesia's two other main rates, the Deposit Facility and Lending Facility, were also unmoved at 5.25% and 6.75%, respectively, Warjiyo said.

The decision came hours after the Federal Reserve kept U.S. interest rates on hold, while signalling a possible cut as early as next month.

Last year, between May and November, BI raised the benchmark six times by a total of 175 basis points to support the rupiah in the wake of U.S. rate hikes.