JAKARTA, May 7 — Deputy Minister of Finance Suahasil Nazara has said that national economic growth of 5.11 per cent will provide a good basis for future economic expansion, reported Antara news agency.

“Growth of 5.11 per cent is quite a high figure, and it is a good basis for Indonesia’s growth in 2024,” he said at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta yesterday.

According to him, the 2024 General Elections have contributed to economic growth.

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“Because we see that household consumption figures are quite high. We want above five per cent for household consumption, for the community,” he explained.

He said that based on the current figure, the government wants economic growth in the next quarter to be even higher.

“We will see in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th quarters. But the government’s incentives continue. Hopefully, this can continue to encourage investment in the coming quarters. So this is a good base, but we want to go even higher,” he added.

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Statistics Indonesia (BPS) earlier informed that Indonesia’s economic growth in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024 stood at 5.11 per cent year-on-year, the highest level since 2015.

“If compared to the first quarter’s economic growth in the previous years, economic growth in the first quarter of 2024 is the highest since 2015,” acting Head of BPS Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti informed at a press conference here yesterday.

She noted that Indonesia had recorded a growth of 5.12 per cent in the first quarter of 2014.

According to Widyasanti, Indonesia’s economic growth of 5.11 per cent in Q1 of 2024 was relatively solid though it reflected a contraction of 0.83 per cent compared to the previous quarter.

She further said that the main contributors to the economy in Q1 this year in terms of production were the processing, trade, agriculture, construction, and mining and quarrying industries.

The five sectors contributed positively to economic growth, with their total contribution accounting for 63.61 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

“This is in line with the increase in production activities that remained strong to meet domestic and foreign demands,” she highlighted.

In terms of spending, the main contributors to economic growth in the first quarter of 2024 were household consumption and gross fixed capital formation.

Widyasanti noted that household consumption and gross fixed capital formation contributed 54.93 per cent and 29.31 per cent respectively to the GDP.

The BPS acting head explained that spatially, economic growth was maintained in all regions, albeit at varying rates.

Java Island was still the biggest contributor to the GDP (57.7 per cent), followed by Sumatra Island (21.85 per cent).

According to Widyasanti, Papua province scripted the highest economic growth of 9.35 per cent year-on-year, while Bangka Belitung Islands province posted the lowest economic growth of 0.02 per cent year-on-year. — Bernama-Antara