JAKARTA, May 3 (Xinhua) — Indonesia posted annual inflation of 3 percent in April, driven by rising transport costs as more than 190 million urbanites celebrated Eid al-Fitr by traveling back to their hometowns, Statistics Indonesia BPS announced on Thursday.

This inflation figure fell compared to the previous month at 3.05 percent but was still within the 1.5 to 3.5 percent goal range set by the central bank.

“The consumer price index increased from 103.3 in April 2023 to 106.4 in April 2024,” said acting head of BPS Amalia Widyasanti in a press conference.

Gorontalo was the province with the highest inflation rate, at 4.65 percent, while Papua had the lowest, at 1.78 percent.

Because of rising geopolitical concerns in the Middle East and high interest rates in the United States, the central bank hiked its benchmark interest rate last week by 25 basis points to 6.25 percent.

As of right now, the benchmark interest rate has increased by 275 basis points overall since August 2022, to keep inflation under control and the value of the rupiah stable.