Economic Growth of 5.01 Percent Not Bad, Says Chief Economic Minister

Chief economic minister Darmin Nasution.

Jakarta, MINA – Considering the current condition, Indonesias first-semester economic growth of 5.01 percent is not bad, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution has stated.

“Overall, our economic growth is not bad, though it is not as good as expected,” he was quoted by Antara News as saying here, Tuesday.

The economic growth of 5.01 percent was achieved even though household consumption, exports and imports slowed down slightly, he noted.

The investment sector has shown positive performance in the second quarter of 2017, contributing to the economy, he remarked.

Hence, the government will encourage investments in the remaining two quarters by issuing an economic policy package related to ease of doing business, he revealed.

“We are preparing a large package (of economic policies), which will involve all the ministries, non-ministerial government agencies and regional governments by focusing on expediting the realization of investment proposals,” he stressed.

In addition, the government will also increase government spending, which grew negatively in the second quarter, to boost the economy, he mentioned.

The lower-than-expected government spending is one of the factors that caused the second-quarter growth to fall short of its target of 5.1 percent, he said.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) announced earlier that the economy grew 5.01 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, fueled by investments that grew 5.35 percent, household consumption (4.95 percent), exports (3.36 percent), imports (0.55 percent) and Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households (LNPRT) consumption (8.49 percent).

However, the government spending contracted by 1.93 percent owing to a fall in the personal and goods expenditure.

Cumulatively, the economy grew 5.01 percent in the first half of this year. (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)