Indonesia GDP Growth Speeds Up But Below Expectations

Bitter gourds are sold by a vendor on a railway track in Jakarta. Photo: Reuters

Indonesia’s economy grew at its fastest rate in more than a year over the last quarter though that was still below market expectations.

Official data released on Monday showed the country’s annual economic growth accelerated in the third quarter to 5.72%. Its second-quarter growth rate was 5.44% on a yearly basis.

But economists polled by Reuters had expected Indonesia’s gross domestic product in the July-September quarter to be 5.89% bigger than the same period last year.

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Unadjusted for seasonal factors, GDP expanded 1.81% from the previous three months, compared with the poll’s forecast of 1.62%.

Indonesia has been enjoying an export boom for more than a year due to high commodity prices, with 2022 export earnings expected to be the country’s largest ever. This had underpinned market stability and growth in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said that the government would work to maintain Indonesia’s position as a relative “bright spot”, but warned that domestic economic activities could be affected by a potential global recession.

Reuters with additional editing by Sean O’Meara

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Sean O'Meara

Sean O'Meara is an Editor at Asia Financial. He has been a newspaper man for more than 30 years, working at local, regional and national titles in the UK as a writer, sub-editor, page designer and print editor. A football, cricket and rugby fan, he has a particular interest in sports finance.