Jakarta – Indonesia's consumer confidence weakened slightly in December partly due to higher food prices in Southeast Asia's biggest economy, a central bank survey showed.

"The easing of consumer confidence was seen partly due to an increase in the rice prices starting in early December after a plan to raise the farm gate prices for unmilled and milled rice," the bank said in a statement.

As of January 1, the farm gate prices for rice were raised by an average of 10 percent to improve farmers' welfare. The move, however, is likely to push up overall retail rice prices by about 2 percent throughout the year. [ID:nJAK210420]

The government uses the reference prices as its purchasing prices from farmers when rice prices drop because of an abundant supply during the harvesting season.

Bank Indonesia's survey showed the consumer confidence index fell to 108.7 in December, from a reading of 111.0 in November. A reading above 100 means more consumers are optimistic than pessimistic.

The survey was released on the central bank's website and covered 4,600 households in 18 cities across the country.