BI: The economy of Indonesia does not overheat yet

KONTAN.CO.ID – JAKARTA. Current Account Deficit Current Account Deficit (CAD) Indonesia is expected to widen in the second quarter of this year. The Vice Governor of the Bank of Indonesia, Mirza Adityaswara, said that the Indonesia business turnover in the first quarter of the year 2018 reached 5.5 billion dollars, or 2.1% of the domestic product, according to Bank Indonesia (BI) gross (GDP). The DAC is expected to increase in the second quarter due to the acceleration of imports between April and June 2018. "We therefore see that second quarter transactions could exceed 2.5% of GDP but stay below 3% of GDP, "Mirza said during focus group discussion with the media in his office on Tuesday (3/7).

Mirza reports that total infrastructure-related imports from January to May 2018 totaled 4.1 billion US dollars. Then the import of defense equipment amounted to $ 1.1 billion. While food imports, especially rice, reached $ 400 million. "The balance of trade in January-May is therefore deficit, but if the need for imports are necessary for the development of infrastructure for the economy in the long term, our trade balance is actually surplus," he said. he adds.

Although the CAO is expected to expand in the second quarter of this year, said Mirza, this condition is not the same as that of the first half of 2013. At that time, import growth was high, credit growth was also above 20% and real estate prices were also high.

Mirza said, at the time, the Indonesian economy was probably overheated . "While now the growing CAD is not a reflection of the overheating situation," he explained. As a result, credit growth in Indonesia is still slow. From May 2 to 18, growth in new loans reached 10.2% -10.3% on an annual basis and 2.9% -3% since the beginning of the year