The headline annual inflation rate picked up to 5.51% in December, compared with 5.42% in November and 5.39% expected by analysts polled by Reuters. Bank Indonesia's inflation target range is 2% to 4%.

The annual core inflation rate, which excludes government-controlled prices and volatile food prices, inched higher to 3.36% from 3.30% a month earlier, while the Reuters poll had expected a rate of 3.39%.

(Reporting by Stefanno Sulaiman, Fransiska Nangoy, Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by Martin Petty)