Indonesia unlikely to meet govt's 2015 outlook for growth: stats bureau

[JAKARTA] The Indonesian economy will find it hard to meet the government's expectation for 5.2 per cent growth this year, an official at the statistics bureau said on Wednesday.

Earlier on Wednesday, the bureau reported Southeast Asia's largest economy expanded 4.67 per cent in April-June from a year ago, better than a Reuters poll forecast of 4.61 per cent, but the slowest since 2009. "Only consumption on food and beverages had increased. Other consumption, like for clothes, declined. So it will be hard (to reach the government's outlook," Suhariyanto, deputy head of the statistics bureau told reporters. Consumption accounts for 55 per cent of Indonesia's GDP.

Indonesia's government targets 5.7 per cent growth this year according to the 2015 state budget. But its latest outlook is for growth at 5.2 per cent.

REUTERS