Jakarta – Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati is in a buoyant mood after the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reports on Indonesia's robust economic growth in the third quarter and uninterrupted surpluses in international trade for over two years, saying on Monday that Indonesia will continue to be "the bright spot" of the global economy.
The BPS has announced that the economy grew by 5.72 percent in the third quarter year-on-year while the trade surplus rose by 12.58 percent to $14.92 billion.
"The economic growth is distributed evenly across all provinces with the island of Java contributing 56.3 percent to the overall growth," Sri Mulyani wrote on social media posts.
The country's most-populated island is home to six provinces including the capital city Jakarta.
According to BPS data, the Eastern islands like Maluku, Papua, and Sulawesi also enjoyed strong growths of between 7.5 and 8.2 percent.
"The trade balance has been in surpluses for 29 months in a row, indicating that Indonesia's economic recovery is sustainable and getting stronger," she said.
The strong third quarter growth was supported by the return of public mobility and resilient people's purchasing power thanks to various government subsidies and social assistance, she said.
"With all these achievements, we are confident that the bright spot status will stay with us. But we must remain vigilant due to rising factors of global uncertainties," the minister said.
BPS Head Margo Yuwono said the national economy has been resilient amid the global slowdown as quarterly growth has topped 5 percent since December of last year.
"Since the fourth quarter of 2021, our economy has been growing by above 5 percent to indicate persistent and stronger growth. In the face of global uncertainties, we can safeguard the economic growth and which is getting stronger," he said.