Sri Mulyani Expects Investment to Pick Up in Q3

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati meets reporters after attending a plenary cabinet meeting, at the State Palace, Jakarta, Monday (5/8). (Photo by: AGUNG / PR)

Investment rate is projected to pick up in the third quarter of this year, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said.

“Exports certainly depend on global condition and our exports still lag behind. However, in terms of investment, we hope that after the ‘political cycle’ in the second quarter, (investment) in the third quarter will pick up,” Sri Mulyani told reporters after attending a cabinet meeting at the State Palace, Jakarta, Monday (5/8).

The Finance Minister added that several indicators signaled the possibility of improvement in investment, such as growth of foreign capital investment exceeding 9% in the second quarter.

“I am still closely monitoring financial sector, credit growth, and companies’ capital expenditure. They are relatively positive and predicted to show improvement in the third and fourth quarters,” the Minister said, adding that based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), household consumption and government spending show a positive growth.

Sri Mulyani also expressed hope that economic growth in the second semester could reach 5.2%.

Head of the National Statistics Agency (BPS) Suhariyanto in his press statement on Monday (5/8) stated that Indonesia’s economy in the second quarter of 2019 grew 5.05% compared to that in the same period last year and grew 4.20% compared to that in the previous quarter.

“The highest growth was reported in household non-profit institution consumption expenditure (PK-LNPRT) component at 8.23%, followed by government consumption expenditure (PK-P) at 8.23%, and household consumption expenditure (PK-RT) component at 5.17%,” Suhariyanto said.

In the meantime, economic growth in the first semester of 2019 reached 5.06%, lower than that in the same period last year at 5.17%. (FID/AGG/ES)

Translated by : Fairuzzamani Inayatillah
Edited by : M. Ersan Pamungkas