Economic Growth Prospect to Be Better in Q4, BI Says

Jakarta, MINA – The prospect of Indonesias economic growth would be better in the fourth quarter due to increasing price of commodities and improvement in the worlds economy, according to Bank Indonesia (BI), Antara News reported.

In its official statement, the central bank stated that investment would also increase in line with increasing exports in the fourth quarter due to acceleration of economic structural reform and conducive investment climate.

“The relaxation of monetary policy is expected to boost the momentum of economic growth,” the banks head of communications department, Agusman, revealed.

He admitted that in the third quarter, growth of household consumption had been slower than in the previous quarter, but there has been an improvement in the governments consumption, exports, and investment.

“Improvement in the export performance is driven by improvement in the price of commodities, such as crude palm oil and coal, as well as improvement in the world’s economy,” he explained.

Based on Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) data, household consumption in the third quarter of 2017 grew 4.93 percent, a bit slower than in the second quarter, which was at 4.95 percent.

Agusman revealed that investment grew the highest since the first quarter of 2013, driven by investment in construction and non-construction sectors.

“Construction investment grew high due to infrastructure development, while non-construction investment grew high because of purchase of machineries and equipment,” he pointed out.

The central bank considered the realization of 5.06 percent economic growth in the third quarter of 2017 to be better than in the previous quarter and also the same period last year.

Referring to BI’s previous statement, realization of economic growth at 5.06 year-on-year in the third quarter of 2017 was lower than the banks expectation at 5.1-5.2 percent. (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)