Indonesia 2Q GDP Growth Dragged by Weak Commodities Prices, Household Consumption

Indonesia's economic growth was stagnant in the second quarter as the government ?struggled to boost the economy amid a short-lived rebound in commodity prices and weak household consumption.

Southeast Asia's largest economy in the April-June period expanded ?5.01% from a year earlier,? unchanged from? the 5.01% expansion in the first quarter, the official Statistics agency said Monday. Sequentially, it grew ?4.00?%, after shrinking by 0.3?4?% in the previous quarter.

The median forecasts from a Wall Street Journal poll of 10 economists was for a 5.04% year-over-year expansion and a 4.04% quarter-over-quarter increase. ?

"Commodity prices ?dropped during the second quarter compared with the first quarter, which dragged total exports by 3.5% from the first quarter, but they still rose by 9.19%" compared with a year ago, said Suhariyanto, the agency's chairman.

Economists said a significant pick up isn't expected to happen in the second half of the year as growth in private investment hasn't accelerated as fast as expected before.

Citigroup recently said any sign of further weakening in domestic growth may prompt Bank Indonesia to reconsider loosening its currently neutral stance, since inflation is showing signs of ebbing again.

Write to I Made Sentana at i-made.sentana@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 07, 2017 00:58 ET (04:58 GMT)