JAKARTA, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian's economic growth accelerated at a faster pace in the second quarter as consumption picked up and infrastructure projects kicked off amid faster spending of development budget.
The national statistic bureau said on Friday that the economy grew 5.18 percent from a year earlier during the three months, compared with 4.92 percent in the first three months.
That exceeds the median forecast of five analysts surveyed by Xinhua who expected the economy to grow 5.0 percent in the April-June quarter.
Household consumption, contributing more than a half to the growth, expanded 5.04 percent at the second quarter year-on-year compared with 4.94 percent in the first quarter, head of the bureau Suryamin told a press conference.
The spending of the government development budget accelerated 6.3 percent during the period from 2.9 percent in the January-March quarter, he added.
The Indonesian government has launched a huge infrastructure program and a tax amnesty aimed at repatriating billions of U.S. dollars in undeclared funds to the country.
The central bank has aggressively cut its benchmark interest rate by 100 basis points to 6.5 percent this year to support the government in pursuing the 5.2-percent growth target this year.
The index at the Jakarta bourse rose 0.83 percent on Friday and rupiah appreciated 0.1 percent to 13,124 per U.S. dollar, according to a local bank.
President Joko Widodo has unveiled a raft of economic stimulus packages since September to lure more foreign capitals. The government said on Wednesday that it will revise the rupiah against the greenback to a stronger level of 13,300 from 13,500, a move cheered by investors.
