Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The third week of March will be marked by various releases of economic data from within the country and abroad.
From within the country, the release of economic data on Tuesday (15/3/2022) includes trade balance data, including the value of exports and imports, in February 2022. Trade balance data in the previous month recorded a surplus of US$ 930 million, of which the export value reached US$ 19, 16 billion, up 25.31% year-on-year. The value of imports reached US$18.23 billion, up 36.77% from January 2021.
However, the implementation of the Domestic Market Obligation (DMO) on Indonesian palm oil commodities, which requires domestic producers to sell from only 20% to 30% of palm oil for domestic purposes, may have a slight impact on the export value.
In addition, on Thursday (17/3/2022), Bank Indonesia (BI) will announce its benchmark interest rate which is predicted to remain at 3.5% as in February.
From the United States (US) zone, investors will be busy with the release of a lot of economic data from early next week. On Tuesday (15/3/2022), February producer price data was released, where in the previous month’s data it rose 1%. This was triggered by a 1.3% increase in the price of goods in December due to a decline in inventories of motor vehicles, food, and energy.
On Wednesday (16/3/2022), data on February retail sales, export and import prices will be released. Followed by the release of benchmark interest rate decision data by the US central bank (Federal Reserve / The Fed) and economic projections on Thursday (17/3/2022) local time.
Previously, Fed Chair Jerome Powell explained to Congress last Wednesday (9/3/2022) that the rapid US economic recovery no longer required an accommodative monetary policy. Therefore, the Fed will start raising its benchmark interest rate in its March 15-16 meeting to suppress already high inflation.
Powell says he tends to favor a 25 basis point hike, but there is potential for the Fed to move more hawkish if inflation does not subside as expected. So, at least it can give a signal about how fast the Fed will tighten its monetary policy.
He also added that the war between Russia and Ukraine adds a significant level of uncertainty.
CNBC INDONESIA RESEARCH TEAM
(aaf / aaf)
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