JAKARTA, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian central bank, Bank Indonesia (BI), on Thursday revised down the country's first quarter growth estimation initially set at 5.05 percent.
"Growth in the first quarter this year would be lower than 5.05 percent, to be much affected by insufficient government spending. As we already knew, the spending was consolidated late last year," BI Governor Agus Martowardojo said here Thursday.
He said exports would likely become the major driver in the first quarter's growth due to price recovery in commodities.
After being battered by decreasing prices throughout last year, Indonesian export commodities would get momentum this year with prices on eight commodities predicted to grow 10.2 percent on average this year, he said.
Indonesia posted 5.02 percent growth last year, lower than the revised target of 5.1 percent.
The BI governor expected the growth throughout this year may reach 5.4 percent, higher than the 5.3 percent target set by government.
