Inflation in Indonesia slowed in December, an official said Wednesday, with fuel subsidies keeping consumer prices tame throughout the year.
Year-on-year inflation slowed to 4.3 percent while month-on-month inflation eased to 0.54 percent, Central Statistics Bureau chief Suryamin told reporters, adding that the month-on-month figure was the lowest for two years.
November consumer prices rose 4.32 percent from a year earlier.
David Sumual, an economist from Bank Central Asia, said steady prices were in part attributable to the government's failure to raise subsidised fuel prices as expected in March, after mass rallies across the country.
"But for 2013, putting into account the plans to raise electricity prices and wages, I think full-year inflation would hover around 5.3 percent," Sumual told AFP.
Prices are expected to creep up mid-year as electricity rates rise gradually, to hit a 15-percent increase by year-end, and as wage rises of up to 44 percent are paid to factory workers in major industrial hubs, analysts said.
The statistics office said the main drivers for December inflation were food, cigarettes and transportation.