The first-quarter growth would mainly be fueled by strong household consumption and investment.Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Finance Ministry has predicted the domestic economy will continue to grow significantly by 6.5 percent during the first quarter of this year, despite the low export performance.
"I hope the first-quarter growth would remain at 6.5 percent," acting chief of the ministry`s fiscal policy board (BKF), Bambang Brodjonegoro, said here on Monday.
The first-quarter growth would mainly be fueled by strong household consumption and investment, he said.
He further predicted that domestic consumption and investment would remain high until the end of this year, while exports would be disrupted as a result of a persistent slowdown in the economies of export destinations, such as the United States and Europe.
"Investment and consumption must be able to take over the role of exports in 2012. If investments grow in a range of 9 percent to 10 percent this year, it could cover the lost growth caused by low exports," he said.
The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded the 2011 national economic growth rate at 6.5 percent, fueled by household consumption, which grew by 4.7 percent, government consumption by 3.2 percent and gross fixed capital formation at 8.8 percent.
Additionally, Indonesia`s exports last year grew by 13.6 percent and its imports by 13.3 percent.
All economic sectors recorded growth last year, with the transportation and communication sector taking the lead at 10.7 percent.
Under the revised 2012 state budget, the government set an economic growth target of 6.5 percent for this year, or 0.2 percent lower than the assumed growth of 6.7 percent in the 2012 state budget.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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