Inflation rate in 2008 expected to drop: BI

"Inflation next year will be lower than this year when the figure is estimated to range between 6.33 percent and 6.7 percent," Miranda said here on Thursday.
She said BI`s studies on next year`s inflation rate had used pessimistic assumptions such as high oil and commodity prices.
The downward trend in next year`s inflation rate was one of the reasons why BI had lowered its benchmark rate from 8.25 percent to 8 percent, according to Miranda.
She said the United States subprime mortgage crisis had not affected Indonesia too much as the performance of the banking sector in the country had remained good.
"We don`t see that it affected Indonesia. Data show that banking`s performance remained good and is now even improving," she said.