The Indonesian economy is estimated to have grown at a slower pace in the second quarter than projected earlier due to a shift in the government and public spending to the third quarter, Bank Indonesia (BI) said.

Public consumption still fell short of expectation as the 13th salaries of civil servants this year were paid only in the third quarter, BI Governor Agus Martowardojo said at the House of Representatives (DPR) Building here on Wednesday.

He stated that several economic activities have also been postponed to the middle of this year.

“In addition, the government spending is also slower (than expected),” he noted.

The BI governor refused to divulge a plan to revise the countrys second-quarter economic growth. The central bank has predicted the economy to expand 5.11 percent in the second half of this year.

However, Agus remarked that the revision of the second-quarter economic growth will have no significant impact on the economy throughout this year.

He noted that the economy in the third and fourth quarters of this year will perform better than projected earlier as several economic activities have been shifted to the two quarters.

The central bank has predicted the economy to grow at above 5.2 percent year-on-year in the third and fourth quarters.

Therefore, the monetary authority still keeps the economic growth forecast for this year at a range of between 5 percent and 5.4 percent year-on-year.

source: antaranews