"Seasonally, we see more economic activities will be carried out in the second semester than in the first semester, so in my opinion, there is still hope to achieve an economic growth rate of above 5.1 percent," he said at his office here on Tuesday.
In its economic publication of Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2017, the Manila-based bank has projected the Indonesian economy will still strengthen and has the potential to grow at 5.1 percent in 2017 and 5.3 percent in 2018.
The latest publication has also projected the governments spending will be able to support the economic growth in the second half of 2017.
The Indonesian government has set the target of economic growth rate for 2017 at 5.17 percent, falling slightly from the assumption of 5.2 percent in the revised state budget.
Bambang who is also chief of the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) said difference of economic growth forecast is something normal.
Judging by the first-semester economic growth of 5.01 percent, he believes the economy will expand by 5.4 percent in the second semester. (*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017
