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GDP growth may reach 5.1% in first quarter: Analyst
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A railway car made by state-owned train manufacturer PT Industri Kereta Api (INKA) is loaded onto a cargo vessel for export to Bangladesh. (thejakartapost.com/Wahyoe Boediwardhana)
I
ndonesia’s economy may grow at a year-on-year rate of 5.1 percent in the first quarter of this year, slightly exceeding the central bank’s prediction, a senior economist has said.
At that rate, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the first three months would be in line with the government’s target for the full year, said Bank Mandiri chief economist Anton Gunawan.
Bank Indonesia (BI) has predicted that the economy would grow at a rate below 5.05 percent.
“We have yet to arrive at the exact calculation, but more or less growth in first quarter tends to be pushed higher by the agricultural sector due to the harvest season in February and March,” he said in a press briefing on Monday.
So far, he said, there was improvement in growth in several industries, such as food processing, automotive and pharmaceuticals as well as in telecommunication and banking.
(Read also: Indonesia’s GDP to reach $9.1 trillion by 2045: Jokowi)
Stable private consumption and a slight improvement in exports would be major contributors to the economic activity in the first quarter, with some help in a small rise in public investment, the bank’s assessment shows.
Meanwhile, government spending typically remains slow in the first three months due to seasonal factors. It tends to increase in later quarters, according to the assessment. (bbn)
