JAKARTA, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Processing industry in Indonesia accelerated at a faster pace in the first quarter as demand drifted higher ahead of Islamic fasting month ended with festivity, a survey by the central bank showed on Thursday.
The lender's prompt manufacturing index (PMI) from January to March touched 52.65 percent, compared with 52.58 percent in the final quarter of last year and 50.51 percent at the first quarter 2018.
Reading above 50 percent suggests manufacturing industry weathers an expansion while one below 50 percent indicates a contraction.
Demand is regularly drifted up significantly prior to the Islamic fasting month of Ramadhan ended with Islamic festivity.
The upbeat momentum was in line with the annualized core inflation, stripping off government-controlled and volatile food prices, which ratcheted up 3.05 percent from January to March 2019 year-over-year, compared with 2.65 percent in the same period of last year, according to data from the national statistics bureau.
Besides, rupiah has also recovered from its long downtrend against the greenback as the U.S. Federal Reserve has signaled a dovish tone, since at the end of last year, for this year.
For the second quarter, the survey forecast the expansion will persist, indicated by the ratcheting up PMI index to 53.21 percent.
The higher expectation was contributed by edging up production and volume of stockpile.
The Southeast Asia's biggest economy has been striving to shift its exportation to manufactured products from natural resources base commodities.
Indonesian economy is expected to grow 5.3 percent this year after logging 5.17 percent last year.
