TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Economic growth targeted at 5.6 percent in 2018
The government and the House of Representatives’ Commission XI overseeing financial affairs have agreed to set an economic growth target of between 5.2 and 5.6 percent in the 2018 State Budget
Change Size
Bank Indonesia Governor Agus Martowardojo (left), Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati (standing) and National Development Planning Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro attend a meeting on macroeconomic assumption with members of the House of Representatives’ Commission XI oversseing financial affairs in Jakarta on June 13. (Antara/ M Agung Rajasa)
T
he government and the House of Representatives’ Commission XI overseeing financial affairs have agreed to set an economic growth target of between 5.2 and 5.6 percent in the 2018 State Budget.
The agreement was made by Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Commission members during a two-day meeting on macroeconomic assumption in Jakarta on Monday and Tuesday.
Bank Indonesia governor Agus Martowardojo also attended the meeting
Initially, the government proposed a growth target between 5.4 and 6.1 percent, while Bank Indonesia offered the range of 5.1 to 5.5 percent.
Before the decision was made, lawmakers were leaning toward to the central bank’s suggestion, but Sri Mulyani argued that it did not reflect optimism.
"We hope the lower bound can be raised to 5.2 or 5.3 percent, while the upper bound can be raised to 5.6 or 5.7 percent," she said during the meeting.
The meeting also agreed in several other assumptions, including inflation between 2.5 and 4.5 percent, a rupiah exchange rate against the United States dollar at between 13,300 and 13,500, a three-month Treasury Bill rate of between 4.8 and 5.6 percent, a poverty rate between 9.5 and 10 percent, and the human development index (HDI) at 0.715.
Meanwhile, Commission XI chair Melchias Markus Mekeng, who led the meeting, said that all the agreed figures were subject to change until the time the 2018 State Budget Bill would be presented by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in his speech on Aug. 16. (bbn)
