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.
Indonesia aims for stable growth with fewer sacrifices
Change Size
State treasurer: Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati (left) and director general of taxation Ken Dwijugiasteadi attend a meeting with House of Representatives Commission XI in Jakarta on Oct. 12. (Antara Photo/M Agung Rajasa)
I
nstead of forcing high but risky growth, the government has defended its preference to maintain moderate economic growth, as the country struggles to survive the impacts of the global economic slowdown.
Although Indonesia’s gross domestic product (GDP) slowed to 5.02 percent year-on-year (yoy) in the third quarter, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said she was still satisfied with the figure. The more important matter, she said, was that the government could reach such a level without adding to the budget deficit.
"This is partly because of [ongoing] structural reform. You won’t be surprised to see that economic growth is not followed by worsening budget conditions like in the past," she said during the ASEAN G2B Infrastructure Investment Forum in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Indonesia’s budget deficit stood at 2.1 percent of GDP as of October. Sri Mulyani said she was optimistic that the deficit would not exceed 2.7 percent by year-end, still below the legal limit of 3 percent.
The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) announced on Monday that private consumption, which now accounts for 55.32 percent of total GDP, had expanded by 5.01 percent yoy, cushioning the drop in GDP growth, which stood at 5.19 percent yoy in the previous quarter.
Amid a weak global economy, Indonesia saw its GDP grow by only 4.79 percent last year, the lowest rate in six years. The government is targeting economic growth of 5.2 percent this year and 5.1 percent in 2017. (hwa)
