We believe this situation will move towards improvement."
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution expressed belief that the Indonesian economy might have grown above 5.1 percent in the second quarter of 2017.

"It (the growth) may have been higher than that. This means that seasonally, our economy improved in the second quarter due to rising demand from other countries," he said after attending a plenary session at the House of Representatives (DPR) here on Tuesday.

The performance of the countrys exports and imports, which began to show an upward trend, will help contribute to the nations economic growth.

It is believed that the second-quarter economic growth will exceed the first-quarter figure of 5.01 percent.

"It seems that the economy will recover in the second and third quarters, and that our economic growth will increasingly become balanced with its growth engine. We believe this situation will move towards improvement," he emphasized.

Bank Indonesia (BI) announced on Wednesday that the economy is estimated to have grown at a slower pace in the second quarter than projected earlier due to a shift in the government and public spending to the third quarter.

Public consumption still fell short of expectation, as the 13th salaries of civil servants this year were paid only in the third quarter, BI Governor Agus Martowardojo noted at the DPR Building here on Wednesday.

He stated that several economic activities were also postponed until the middle of this year.

"In addition, the government spending is slower (than expected)," he noted.

The BI governor refused to divulge a plan to revise the countrys second-quarter economic growth. The central bank has forecast the economy to expand by 5.11 percent in the second half of this year.

However, Martowardojo remarked that the revision of the second-quarter economic growth will have no significant impact on the economy throughout this year.

He noted that the economy in the third and fourth quarters of this year will perform better than projected earlier, as several economic activities have been shifted to the two quarters.

The central bank has forecast the economy to grow at above 5.2 percent year-on-year in the third and fourth quarters.

Hence, the monetary authority continues to keep the economic growth forecast for this year at a range of between five and 5.4 percent year-on-year.

(Reported by Citro Atmoko/Uu.S012/INE/KR-BSR/A014)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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