REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesia's inflation rate rose 0.23 percent in February 2017, fueled by a rise in electricity tariff for 900-VA household customers, among others, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) said.

"The cause is the adjustment of subsidized electricity tariff for 900 VA household customers," BPS Chief Suhariyanto said in a press briefing here on Wednesday.

The February 2017 inflation brought the calendar inflation to 1.21 percent and year-on-year inflation to 3.83 percent. Meanwhile, core components recorded 0.37 percent inflation in February, bringing core component inflation to 3.41 percent year-on-year.

Suharyanto said the February 2017 inflation is higher than those of the same months of 2015 and 2016 when the country recorded a deflation of 0.36 percent and 0.09 percent respectively. "Yet, the inflation is far lower than those of the same months of 2013 and 2014 when it was recorded at 0.75 percent and 0.26 percent respectively," he said.

On spending side, the February 2017 inflation was mostly fueled by the group of housing, water, electricity, gas and fuel which contributed 0.75 percent due to the rise in subsidized electricity tariff. Meanwhile, the group of clothing contributed 0.52 percent, the group of processed food, drink, cigarette and tobacco 0.39 percent and the group of healthcare 0.26 percent to the February 2017 inflation.

"The group of clothes was influenced by gold price hike in the global market, while the group of processed food was affected by the increasing prices of cigarettes," he said.

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