JAKARTA — Indonesia's central bank held its main interest rate unchanged for a fourth straight policy review on Wednesday (Oct 21), but hiked the deposit facility rate, as the country's stock market saw a record-breaking two-day rout and its rupiah currency hovered near an all-time low.
Bank Indonesia kept the benchmark seven-day reverse repurchase rate at 5.75 per cent, as expected by 15 of 29 economists in a Reuters poll. The rest had expected a hike of at least 25 basis points to stem the selloff.
The central bank hiked its overnight deposit by 25 bps to 5.00 per cent and kept the lending facility rates unchanged at 6.50 per cent.
BI raised rates by 100 basis points in three moves between May and June to defend the rupiah. The currency has come under renewed pressure in recent days after a selloff triggered by a warning last week from MSCI that it could relegate Indonesian equities to "standalone" market status.
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