Election spending props up Indonesia's GDP Q1 growth despite central bank tightening

Jakarta

ELECTION spending likely helped Indonesia maintain steady economic growth in the first quarter of 2019, a Reuters poll showed on Friday, despite central bank tightening and weak foreign investment.

The median forecast from 14 analysts in the poll was for South-east Asia's largest economy to have expanded at 5.18 per cent in January-March on a year-on-year basis, broadly in line with growth in the previous quarter.