RI's GDP Predicted To Grow Six Percent In 2012

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Fitch ratings agency predicts Indonesia's gross domestic product will grow six percent in 2012.

Fitch's head of financial institutions for South and Southeast Asia Ambreesh Srivastava said at a seminar on "Fitch Credit Briefing on Indonesia" here on Tuesday the GDP projection for Indonesia was the same as that for Vietnam but lower than that for India (7.5 pct), Sri Lanka (8.0 pct), China (8.3 pct), Mongolia (15 pct) and BRIC countries (6.3 pct).

Indonesia's GDP growth projection however was still above that of the US (1.8 pct), Hong Kong (3.2 pct), Australia (3.5 pct), Japan (2.2 pct), Thailand (4.0 pct), Taiwan (3.4 pct), Singapore (2.5 pct), the Philippines (4.5 pct), New Zealand (3.0 pct) and South Korea (4.0 pct).

Fitch also predicts GDP growth in the Europ zone countries in 2012 would be around 0.4 percent while the world's GDP growth is projected at 2.4 percent.

Fitch's projection on Indonesia's GDP growth is higher than that of Standard Chartered Bank which is at 5.8 percent. SCB's world GDP growth projection is at 2.2 percent while its projection for Japan is 0.8 percent, the US 1.7 percent and the Euro zone 0.8 percent.

Ambreesh said Indonesian banks would get a minimum direct impact of the economic slowdown in Europe but "the indirect impact could happen if conditions in Europe continues."

The Indonesian National Statistics Agency on November 7, predicted Indonesia's economic growth in the third quarter of 2011 would reach 6.5 percent.

The country's GDP based on the basic price in the third quarter of 2011 would reach Rp1,923.6 trillion and so comulatively would reach Rp5,482.4 trillion.(T007)