Indonesia’s finance minister said she’s optimistic growth in South East Asia’s biggest economy will hold up despite weakening exports.
(Bloomberg) — Indonesia’s finance minister said she’s optimistic growth in South East Asia’s biggest economy will hold up despite weakening exports.
“We’re still optimistic we can maintain growth around 5%,” Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said in an interview with Bloomberg News on the sidelines of International Monetary Fund and World Bank meeting in Washington.
The country’s central back last month maintained its gross domestic product growth forecast for this year of 4.5% to 5.3%.
Indonesia’s economy has been boosted by stronger domestic demand after it removed virus curbs completely at the end of last year. Strong domestic consumption, investment and China’s reopening are expected to support GDP this year by offsetting weakening key commodity export prices.
The nation had a budget surplus at the end of March, she said, adding that the government plans to release updated figures next week.
“Until the first quarter, it’s actually quite still strong,” Indrawati said of the surplus. She promised to keep spending in check, and vowed a budget deficit of no more than 3%.
The central bank has managed to bring down consumer prices from its peak at nearly 6% in September to 4.97% in March, allowing it to pause monetary tightening that risks taking a toll on growth.
–With assistance from Enda Curran.
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