September inflation figure for G-7 countries except Japan was 1.45 percent where the US inflation reached 2.3 percent. As for Japan, inflation for September was at 0.3 percent which marked the first month of positive inflation after seven consecutive months of negative inflation. As for unemployment rate for September 1999, France and Germany still have the highest unemployment rate of 11.3 percent and 10.5 percent respectively. Most economic indicators for September 1999 show concrete sign of economic recovery leading by the sharp increase in production, consumption and exports. On production side, the manufacturing index for September 1999 increased by 15.4 percent from the previous year, and excise tax collection for automobile also increased by 132.6 percent from the previous year.
Problems still remain in investment where various indicators for investment continue to be weak.
On the monetary side, M1 and M2 for September 1999 increased from the previous year but problem still remains on the banking sector's credit to private sector which shows no sign of improvement 3. In addition, the number of people who register in the social security system, increases from the previous month by 0.07 percent 4. Inflation Inflation for October 1999 compared to October 1998 was at -0.5 percent where inflation rate was negative for six consecutive months of this year. The Average inflation rate for the first 10 months of this year stands at 0.3 percent. In the normal circumstance, Consumer Price Index usually decline for November and December, but the expected rise in oil price during the winter season would have some effect on the Consumer Price Index.