JAKARTA, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Governor of Indonesian central bank Perry Warjiyo said on Friday that national economic growth may reach 5.15 percent in second quarter this year, lower than government's initial estimation of 5.2 percent.
Bank Indonesia's (BI) estimated growth figure was higher than 5.06 percent and 5.01 percent in the first quarter this year and the second quarter last year repectively.
Perry said the estimated growth figure in the second quarter this year was ultimately contributed by school enrollment expenditures and expanding consumption following disbursement of extra salary for civil servants and public spending during Iedul Fitr holiday season.
He added that inflation did not give significant effect to the growth during the period as it remained in controllable level. He said as of July, inflation remained at low level of 3.18 percent.
Pressures from depreciating national currency exchange rate against the U.S. dollar and trade activities were not significant as exporters and importers have pertinently secured the exchange rate for their businesses through hedging mechanism.
"I believe that our exporters and importers have done the hedging so as to mitigate risk from the surge of operational cost," Perry said.
Analysts predicted that Indonesia's growth in the period that spans from April to June may reach 5.19 percent on the back of recovering commodity prices, expanding export and slowing down import.
