Indonesian GDP seen to expand by 6.3 % to 6.5 % in Q3

The Indonesian government forecasts the country's economy will grow by 6.3 percent to 6.5 percent in the third quarter this year as investment and government spending pick up, official said here on Monday. Bambang Brodjonegoro, head of fiscal policy with the Finance Ministry said that relatively low inflation of 3.49 percent and expectation that the trade balance to improve in coming months would also contribute to the acceleration of the economic growth. "The contributors (of the growth) are foreign investment and improved government spending," he said. "We see (the trade balance) tends to improve. The trend for surplus is stronger," said Bambang. Indonesia posted trade surplus of 248.5 million U.S. dollars in August with cumulative surplus from January to August standing at 496.7 million U.S. dollars, the statistic bureau said on Oct. 1. The central bank has forecast inflation to be on the target of its expectation of 3.5 percent to 5.5 percent this year. Indonesia's economy expanded by 6.4 percent in the second quarter and 6.3 percent in the first quarter, according to the statistic bureau.