Indonesia central bank says room for monetary easing 'increasingly thin'

JAKARTA: Indonesia's central bank governor said on Friday that room for monetary easing was becoming "increasingly thin" amid efforts to maintain economic stability.

"Now we are more focused on restabilisation and the room for monetary easing is increasingly thin. Now we are safeguarding stability and being vigilant about external factors," Bank Indonesia Governor Agus Martowardojo told reporters.

His comments came a day after Bank Indonesia, citing "escalating" global economic uncertainty, held its key interest rate steady at 4.75 percent and trimmed its growth forecast for 2017.

Earlier this year, the central bank cut the benchmark six times, by a total of 150 basis points.