Infrastructure firms gloomy despite better economic data in Indonesia

Jakarta

STRONGER state spending lifted Indonesia's growth in the third quarter to its fastest pace this year but many of the companies involved in President Joko Widodo's infrastructure push say they are still waiting for business to improve.

The statistics bureau on Thursday reported South-east Asia's largest economy grew at 4.73 per cent on an annual basis in the third quarter, up slightly from 4.67 per cent the previous quarter, but not enough to show a real turnaround has begun.