Govt defends 8.07% growth figure for 1995<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government, responding to critics, yesterday
\ndefended its figure for economic growth of 8.07 percent last
\nyear, claiming that it was supported by sound statistics.<\/p>\n
Kusmadi Saleh, a deputy chairman of the Central Bureau of
\nStatistics (BPS), said here yesterday that his agency guaranteed
\nthe validity of the data used to calculate last year's economic
\ngrowth, including the data on the agricultural sector, which has
\ndrawn particular fire from analysts.<\/p>\n
Last week, BPS announced that Indonesia's gross domestic
\nproduct (GDP) grew by 8.07 percent last year, as compared to 7.48
\npercent in 1994, while its per capita income rose to US$1,023
\nfrom $920. The figures for last year's GDP growth were criticized
\nearlier this week by the Econit economic advisory group, which
\nquestioned the validity of the government's estimates, saying
\nthat they were not supported by sound statistics.<\/p>\n
\"If they question the methodology we used to process the data,
\nthis is still all right; we welcome any input to improve our
\nmethodology,\" Kusmadi yesterday said at a press conference,
\norganized by the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas).
\n\"However, when they questioned the validity of the data, all we
\ncan say is that we published the data as we found it.\"<\/p>\n
Econit says last year's economic growth projection of 8.07
\npercent was too high, contending that a growth rate of 7.7
\npercent would be closer to the truth.<\/p>\n
Econit specifically questioned the government's figure for the
\nagricultural sector's growth of 3.96 percent last year as this
\nsector recorded only 0.55 percent growth in 1994.<\/p>\n
The agriculture sector contributed 17.19 percent to last
\nyear's gross domestic product.<\/p>\n
BPS said last week that the high growth of the agriculture
\nsector was driven mainly by the food subsector, which grew by
\n4.46 percent last year. This subsector dropped by 2.14 percent in
\n1994.<\/p>\n
Econit said it was odd for the food subsector to be credited
\nwith such high growth for last year, considering that during that
\nyear Indonesia suffered severe shortages of foodstuffs, which
\ncaused soaring prices for foodstuffs and the increase in imports,
\nespecially of rice.<\/p>\n
Arsjad Anwar, an expert at Bappenas, contended that the rapid
\ngrowth of the agricultural sector, especially for the food
\nsubsector, was not strange at all.<\/p>\n
Indonesia, Arsjad said, experienced similar high growth rates
\nin the agricultural sector a few years ago. This sector, for
\nexample, grew by 4.9 percent in 1989 and 6.26 percent in 1992,
\nwhile the food subsector grew by 4.46 percent and 7.14 percent
\nrespectively.<\/p>\n
Arsjad explained that high growth rates in the agricultural
\nsector, especially the food subsector, in 1989 and 1992, were
\npreceded by serious drops in rice output in 1988 and 1991.<\/p>\n
\"Similarly, rice output dropped in 1993 and in 1994, and had
\nto be augmented by imports. When it recovered to its normal level
\nlast year, growth seemed very high. That's normal,\" Arsjad said.<\/p>\n
According to official data, production of unhusked rice
\ndropped from 48.2 million tons in 1992 to 46.6 million tons in
\n1994, before recovering to 49.8 tons last year.<\/p>\n
Chairil A. Rasahan, head of the planning bureau at the
\nMinistry of Agriculture, explained that last year's high rice
\noutput was the result of increasing acreage of rice cultivation,
\nthe improvement of irrigation, the increasing use of tablet
\nfertilizer and high rainfall.<\/p>\n
He said the area of rice fields under cultivation rose by
\n745,330 hectares to 11.48 million hectares last year from 10.73
\nmillion hectares in 1994.<\/p>\n
The improvement of irrigation in Java and Bali alone affected
\n150,000 hectares of rice fields last year and 216,000 hectares in
\nthe 1994\/1995 fiscal year.<\/p>\n
The introduction of tablet urea fertilizer also helped
\nincrease rice output last year, Chairil said. Its usage covered
\n1.4 million hectares of rice fields in Java and Bali last year.
\n(rid)<\/p>",
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