(Reuters photo)JAKARTA - Indonesia's central bank on Tuesday surprised markets by cutting its benchmark policy rate, the first change since October, in a bid to boost sluggish lending and economic growth. Bank Indonesia (BI) cut the 7-day reverse repurchase rate to 4.5%. Indonesia becomes the second major Asian economy to cut its policy rate this year. "Today’s 25-basis-point rate cut is unlikely to be the last in the current cycle. Twice this month, after Indonesia announced that second quarter growth was basically unchanged from January-March, Mr Martowardojo flagged the possibility of monetary easing.

Source: Bangkok Post August 22, 2017 12:45 UTC