Indonesia's GDP growth to accelerate to 5.2-5.3% in Q4: minister

[JAKARTA] Indonesia's annual economic growth is expected to pick up to around 5.2-5.3 per cent in the current quarter, from 5.02 per cent in July-September, its chief economics minister said on Wednesday.

"Based on our track record, growth in the fourth quarter is always higher than the third, and government spending always accelerates towards year end. There will be huge spending and we're also expecting harvest time in October-December," Darmin Nasution told an economic conference.

The acceleration in the fourth quarter would bring full-year 2016 growth to 5.1 per cent, Mr Darmin said, better than the government's earlier forecast of 5 per cent.

His forecast for growth in 2017 was 5.2-5.4 per cent, versus the government official target of 5.1 per cent, which he described as "conservative".

REUTERS