At a shopping mall in Indonesia (Source: Reuters)Jakarta (VNA) - Standard and Poor’s (S&P) senior director and lead analyst for corporate ratings in Indonesia and Malaysia, Xavier Jean, has noted that his firm’s corporate clients are a lot more optimistic recently than they were six months ago.
Jean attributed the change in his clients’ behavior to Indonesia’s economy, which started to pick up in the second half of last year.
According to the latest study by S&P, Indonesia’s gross domestic product (GDP) will expand by 4.9 percent this year, which is lower than the government’s target of 5.3 percent, but still higher than last year’s 4.76 percent. GDP growth for next year is forecast at 5.1 percent. The inflation rate is expected to remain steady at about 5 percent, signalling greater purchasing power in the foreseeable future.
Earlier, the International Monetary Fund estimated Indonesian growth at 4.9 percent, inflation at 4.5 percent and the budget deficit at 2.5 percent of GDP.
S&P is one of the world’s three largest and most prestigious credit ratings agencies, besides Moody’s and Fitch Ratings.-VNA
