Indonesia economy expands 6.9%

Indonesia’s economy grew at the fastest pace in six years last quarter, extending an expansion that may prompt the central bank to raise interest rates further after its first increase since 2008 to curb price pressures.

Gross domestic product rose 6.9 percent in the three months through December from a year earlier, compared with 5.82 percent previously reported for the third quarter, the Central Bureau of Statistics said in Jakarta on Sunday. That was higher than the 6.3 percent median estimate of 13 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. GDP increased 6.1 percent in 2010.

Indonesia joins counterparts from China to Singapore in reporting accelerating growth in the fourth quarter as Asia weathers risks including elevated U.S. unemployment and strives to restrain inflation. Economists from UBS AG and Royal Bank of Canada are among those predicting the nation’s borrowing costs will rise to 8 percent this year, following a quarter percentage-point increase to 6.75 percent last week. 

(Bloomberg)