JAKARTA, May 19 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian government expects the economy to accelerate at a faster pace next year due to high consumption and exports.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Friday that the government forecast the gross domestic product (GDP) to expand 5.4 to 6.1 percent next year, compared with this year's expectation of 5.1 percent, as the government insists on maintaining people's buying power.
"Despite facing numerous challenges amid global uncertainty, the government will seriously strive to achieve the target," he told lawmakers at the parliament building.
To spur the purchasing power, Mulyani said that the government set an inflation target of 2.5 to 4.5 percent next year, lower than this year's target of 3 to 5 percent.
Consumption accounts for 56 to 57 percent to the gross domestic product and export is about 27 percent.
The country's exports, mostly comprising commodities, are projected to get benefit from oil price rise due to global efforts to cut oil output.
Rupiah will be maintained at the level of 13,500 to 13,800 per 1 U.S. dollar in 2018, Mulyani added.
On monetary side, the central bank has held its seven-day reverse repo rate steady at 4.74 percent for seven months despite the U.S. Federal Reserve rose its rate and the prospect of its upcoming policies is hawkish.
Indonesia got the credit rating upgrading to investment grade from S&P Global Ratings on Friday, paving way for capital inflows from conservative Japanese institutional investors.
