INFLATION - JAKARTA. Indonesia's annual consumer inflation in April picked up more than expected, but remained within the central bank's target range, data from the statistics bureau showed on Thursday.
The Consumer Price Index in April rose 2.83 percent from a year earlier, the highest inflation reading so far this year, the bureau said, compared with the median forecast in a Reuters poll of 2.69 percent.
The inflation rate in March was 2.48 percent.
Bank Indonesia (BI) targets 2019 inflation within a range of 2.5-4.5 percent.
Analysts had expected an inflation acceleration in April as the Muslim majority country prepared for the fasting month of Ramadan, which would begin in early May.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.44 percent on higher food prices, the bureau said.
The April annual core inflation rate, which excludes government-controlled and volatile food prices, was 3.05 percent in April, compared with 3.04 percent expected in the poll and 3.03 percent in March.
