JAKARTA, May 16 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian central bank on Thursday revised its estimate on the economic growth and target for this year as exports were expected to fall amid an uncertain global economy.
Bank Governor Perry Warjiyo said that the central bank had revised its growth projection to below 5.2 percent this year, yet it is still in the range of its initial forecast of between 5.0 to 5.4 percent.
"We estimate the economic growth in 2019 will be below the middle point of 5 to 5.4 percent," he said.
Indonesia's economy grew at a slower pace of 5.07 percent in the first quarter, compared with 5.18 percent at the final quarter of last year, according to data from the national statistics bureau.
With subdued shipment of products offshore, Warjiyo said it is difficult to help accelerate the country's gross domestic product growth.
Exports, along with consumption and investment, are a major contributor to the Indonesian GDP growth. But recently consumption has been stagnant and is expected to be relatively unchanged for months to come. Investment has also logged a slower growth in recent months.
Accordingly, the lower exports estimate culminates to the widening of the country's current account deficit expectation, according to Warjiyo.
He said the bank on Thursday edged up its current account deficit projection to the range of 2.5 to 3 percent of the GDP by this year end from its initial forecast of 2.5 percent of the GDP.
