REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Bank Indonesia (BI) has predicted the Indonesian economy will grow 5.1 percent this year. It was the lower limit of its target range of 5.1-5.5 percent due to declining exports.

"The economic growth will not be as strong as the earlier forecast due to a downward trend of global commodity prices," BI Governor Perry Warjiyo said in Jakarta on Thursday.

Indonesia's exports in the first half of this year fell short of expectation. The country's exports in June stood at US$13 billion, down 19.8 percent compared to May.

Also read: Economic growth target for 2018 difficult to achieve

In the January-June 2018 period, Indonesia's exports reached US$88 billion comprising non-oil/non-gas exports valued at US$79.38 billion and oil and gas exports worth US$8.67 billion. Meanwhile, the country's imports in the first half of 2018 reached US$89.04 billion.

"These all have had an impact on the prospect for the economic growth in 2018 which is projected to come close to the lower limit of Bank Indonesia's target range of 5.1-5.5 percent," she said.

Despite the decline in the exports' contributions to the economic growth, the central bank appears to be optimistic that household consumption will improve. Bank Indonesia has predicted the second-quarter economic growth will not be much different from its previous forecast of 5.2 percent.

The second-quarter growth was fueled by household consumption thanks to abundant fiscal stimuli, including civil servants' 13th salaries and controllable inflation rate.

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