BCA Economist Estimates Indonesia's Economic Growth To Reach 5.14 Percent In The First Quarter Of 2024

SAMOSIR Head of the Economist of PT Bank Central Asia Tbk (BBCA) David Sumual projects that Indonesia's economic growth in the first quarter of 2024 will be at the level of 5.07 percent to 5.14 percent supported by the base effect of Eid shift.

"Our estimate is that the first quarter is a bit strong GDP (gross domestic product), an estimate is still 5 percent. There is an effect of Eid shift," said David in a discussion on the Latest Economic Developments and BI Policy Mix Response, in Samosir Regency, North Sumatra, Sunday, April 28.

In addition, David said that Indonesia's economic growth was also driven by strong government spending or fiscals in the first quarter of 2024 during the elections and Ramadan.

"This is still driven by fiscals for the first quarter, there is still social assistance fiscal expenditure, the election. But the nominal GDP growth is still low," he said.

Previously, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani estimated Indonesia's economic growth in the first quarter of 2024 to reach 5.17 percent.

"With the performance we saw earlier good consumers, positive manufacturing activities, capital is quite good in terms of FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) and PMI (Price Managers Index) we predict for the first quarter of 2024 our growth at 5.17 percent. Because it must be completed in March, January-March, we estimate it will still last above 5 percent," he said during a press conference on the KiTa State Budget, Friday, April 26.

Sri Mulyani said the government would still be aware of global conditions that occurred due to geopolitical conflicts, and high interest rates.

Sri Mulyani said there were various projections from the institution on Indonesia's economic growth quite varied, such as Bloomberg estimating growth of 5 percent, BCA (5.1 percent), Goldman Sachs (4.9 percent), Moody's (4.7 percent), Nomura (5.3 percent).

Meanwhile, throughout 2024, various institutions such as the International Monetary Fund or IMF predict Indonesia's economy to grow 5 percent, the World Bank (4.9 percent), and OECD (5.1 percent).

Sri Mulyani conveyed that the projection issued by the Ministry of Finance was based on government consumption which is expected to grow strongly, especially after the 2024 General Election, the increase in ASN salaries and the provision of holiday allowances (THR), controlled inflation and household consumption were also considered to increase.

"Alhamdulillah, Indonesia's economy is good, PMI is quite high, manufacturing activities are still in expansion. The consumer confidence index is still stable at 123.8 due to inflation even though volatile food but the headline is still maintained at 3 percent," he explained.

Sri Mulyani said that investment is also expected to increase in siring with the progress of the National Strategic Project (PSN) and the capital city of Nusantara (IKN). Meanwhile, export and import activities are still being held back with global weakness.

"So we still have to see the next three quarters, next year it will be relatively steady, although the variation is not too big. This is an economic environment that affects the implementation of our APBN, especially from posts that are indeed influenced by economic performance in terms of state revenue from the expenditure side, it is in government control," he concluded.