The government has predicted that economic growth in the first quarter of 2016 will stand at around 5 percent, after registering 5.04 percent quarterly growth in the fourth quarter of 2015 and annual growth of 4.79 percent last year.

Coordinating Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution said Indonesia's economy would grow at a faster pace this year as some investment measures began to take effect. He said he expected the trend of rising growth over the four quarters of 2015 would be maintained.

"We did expect economic growth at around 4.8 percent [in 2015]. That target was slightly missed but it shows that investment measures have had clear results," he said at the State Palace in Jakarta on Friday.

Going forward, he continued, the government would keep encouraging investment and accelerate budget spending to stimulate growth in the first quarter of 2016. Exports were predicted to remain in trouble.

"This year the government will consolidate promotional efforts to seek new markets ['€¦] Fisheries and tourism are expected to boost growth, as these industries are easier to promote," Darmin said.

However, Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro predicted that economic growth in the first quarter of 2016 would slow, before increasing again in subsequent quarters. "We hope [the growth] will be better, despite a slowdown in the first quarter," he said.

Central Statistics Agency (BPS) head Suryamin said economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2015 was driven by the situation in the country. One of the key drivers of 2015 growth was government spending, which increased 6.4 percent year-on-year.

Nevertheless, BPS data showed that 2015 saw the slowest annual growth in the last six years, after 4.5 percent growth in 2009. (ags)

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