The highest growth in the first quarter of 2012 was recorded in the agricultural, animal husbandry, forestry, and fisheries sectors, at 20.9 percent.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia`s economy has grown 6.3 percent year-on-year (YOY) in the first quarter of this year, according to the National Statistics Agency (BPS).

"Compared to the fourth quarter of 2011, in terms of GDP, it has grown 1.4 percent," BPS chief Suryamin said here on Monday.

He stated that GDP growth based on current prices reached Rp1,972.4 trillion, however, based on a constant price of 2,000, it was Rp632.8 trillion.

Without oil and gas, the GDP in the first quarter of 2012 increased by 1.5 percent from the fourth quarter of 2011. And compared to the corresponding period of the previous year (YOY), it grew 6.7 percent.

Suryamin said the sectors that drove the growth were agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry, fishery, finance, real estate, corporate service, communication, and transportation, among others.

"The highest growth in the first quarter of 2012 was recorded in the agricultural, animal husbandry, forestry, and fisheries sectors, at 20.9 percent," he added.

Suryamin noted that the growth in the agricultural sector was driven by large harvests, while the transportation sector was boosted by increased international travel at the beginning of the year, and communication sector benefitted from increasing sales of communication equipment.

"The high growth in the transportation sector was contributed by air transportation, while in the communication sector it was the Internet, following a shift from SMS use to Internet networking," he said.

Suryamin explained that the growth in the construction was also fast because the government was encouraging capital expenditure.

"Transportation and communication grew 10.3 percent, while trade, hotel, and restaurants 8.5 percent and construction 7.3 percent," he added.

Suryamin said other areas that contributed to the growth this quarter were household consumption (with a YOY growth of 4.9 percent), government spending (5.9 percent), fixed gross capital investment formation (9.9 percent), exports (7.8 percent), and imports (8.2 percent).

Compared with the fourth quarter of 2011, only household consumption grew by 0.5 percent while other areas dropped -- government spending by 45.1 percent, fixed gross capital investment formation by 4.8 percent, exports by 7.2 percent, and imports by 6.2 percent.

Suryamin pointed out that Indonesia`s economic growth in the first quarter of 2012 was dominated by growth in the provinces of Java and Sumatra.

Provinces in Java contributed 57.5 percent to the country`s GDP growth, followed by provinces in Sumatra (23.6 percent), Kalimantan (9.8 percent), Sulawesi (4.5 percent), and Bali and Nusa Tenggara (2.4 percent).

"The smallest contribution comes from provinces in Maluku and Papua, at only 2.2 percent," he said.

(H-YH)

Editor: Ella Syafputri
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