Second-Quarter Growth Expected to Reach 5.15 Percent: BI

Jakarta, MINA — Indonesia`s second-quarter growth is expected to approach 5.15 per cent year-on-year, fuelled by household consumption stimulated by the disbursement of Eid-al-Fitr bonuses, the Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor, Perry Warjiyo, said here on Friday.

Household consumption was expected to grow optimally in the second half of this year, protected by a downward trend of the inflation rate, he said.

The result of a survey conducted by BI until the third week of May 2018 showed the country`s annual inflation rate this month reached 3.24 per cent year-on-year and 0.22 per cent month-to-month.

“With the controllable inflation, spending will increasingly become larger and, therefore, it will become a fiscal stimulus particularly in the second quarter,” he said.

Household consumption in the first quarter of 2018 grew 4.95 per cent, contributing 56.8 per cent to the economic growth.

President Joko Widodo, has signed a government regulation on granting of Eid al-Fitr allowances to civil servants and pensioners.

The Finance Minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, stated on Wednesday that the Eid al-Fitr allowances would be paid to civil servants, military and police personnel, as well as pensioners, from late May to early June.

Indrawati confirmed that she would issue a ministerial regulation on the payment of allowances and salaries. (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)