Indonesia Q4 GDP growth picks up speed, 2015 growth still weak

[JAKARTA] Indonesia's economy grew 5.04 per cent from a year earlier in the final quarter of 2015, faster than market expectation, as government spending countered weak exports and consumption.

The growth pace in October-December was also faster than in the third quarter, which the statistics bureau revised slightly up to 4.74 per cent.

For the whole of 2015, Southeast Asia's largest economy expanded 4.79 per cent, the bureau said on Friday, marking the fifth straight year of slowing growth, but slightly better than expected in a Reuters poll.

The poll had a median forecast for 2015 growth of 4.75 per cent and a year-on-year 4.80 per cent for October-December.

On a quarterly, non-seasonally adjusted basis, the economy contracted 1.83 per cent in the fourth quarter.

REUTERS