TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Darmin Nasution, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, believes that Indonesia's economy will grow better in the second quarter of this year. The minister projects that quarter two's growth rate will exceed quarter one's 4.92 percent.
"The growth in quarter one was not as good as in 2015's last quarter of 5.05 percent, but it is higher compared to the same period last year, which was 5.73 percent," he said on Wednesday, May 4, Bisnis Indonesia reported.
Darmin said that the economy decelerated in quarter one because of a late harvest. The harvest season was supposed to have started in March, but climate changes pushed it back to April.
"There was also the low demand for coal; something that is still occurring. Credit numbers also failed to grow higher than in the previous quarter; contributing to the slowdown," he said.
Despite the slowing growth, quarter one's economy remained on a positive rate, thanks to stable consumption. The DBS Research Group noted that this year's individual/personal consumption rate is relatively stable at five percent.
Darmin is confident that Indonesia's economy will grow faster in the second quarter, supported by government spending particularly on capital goods and product purchase.
Darmin said his ministry will seek ways to push credit growth in a bid to mobilize the real sector. The ministry will also coordinate with Bank Indonesia (BI) and the Financial Services Authority (OJK) to improve the economy together.
Nevertheless, Darmin said that a monetary easing policy is not necessary at the moment, considering BI taken such measures not too long ago.
BISNIS.COM