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GDP beats estimates as growth holds above 5 percent
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Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto stands on the podium, looking at the materials he is about to present on May 5, 2023. (The Jakarta Post/Deni Ghifari)
I
ndonesia’s economy is showing resilience in a turbulent global environment as first-quarter growth came in slightly higher than many had expected.
As Statistics Indonesia (BPS) announced on Friday, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) was up 5.03 percent year-on-year (yoy) in the January-through-March period, marking a marginal acceleration from the 5.01 percent annual gain registered in the preceding quarter.
However, economic output looked less impressive from a quarterly perspective, as the GDP figure dropped 0.92 percent quarter-to-quarter (qtq). This marks a slowdown from quarterly gains of 0.36 percent in the fourth quarter of last year and 1.83 percent before that.
Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto said on Friday that “the national prospects are still strong” as seen in the purchasing managers index (PMI), the trade balance and the debt-to-GDP ratio.
He expressed optimism that Indonesia could reach the 5.3 percent economic growth target by the end of this year and claimed that the country had “recovered faster than everyone else”.
“This is all thanks to the structural reforms,” said Airlangga.
The country’s GDP growth rate has held above 5 percent for six quarters in a row, and the latest reading beats a consensus estimate of 4.97 percent yoy. Consumer spending accounted for 2.44 percentage points of the 5.03 percent GDP growth, followed by net exports with 2.1 percent.
