Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution has predicted that the economy's growth will exceed its previous forecast of 5.1 percent next year if there is consistent improvement.
"The 5.1 percent is baseline. We will try to achieve higher growth of 5.2 to 5.4 percent," he said at a meeting on prospects for the Indonesian economy in 2017 here on Monday.
Factors that could lift economic growth beyond projections include consistent infrastructure development, implementation of economic policy packages, and fiscal policy reforms, he said.
"We must admit that our engine of economic growth has not operated at full capacity. But we have deregulated our policies to boost investment and made fiscal improvements by reforming the taxation sector," he said.
He said the government had made every effort to strengthen the national economy because it believed that the global economy will not fully recover in 2017 due to political uncertainties in the United States, Europe, and China.
"We do that because we do not want the global economic downturn to drag us. The effort includes opening fiscal room for infrastructure, education and health," he said.
Economist Lana Soelistianingsih of Samuel Asset Management predicted that the Indonesian economy will grow at 5.0-5.2 percent as projected owing to strong household consumption and improving export performance.
However, she warned of inflation risks that may affect the people's purchasing power, and a potential shortfall in tax receipts although the government will not slash the budget fund in the middle of 2017.(WDY)
