Astra Says blast won't hurt sales

JAKARTA: Indonesian car maker PT Astra International said Wednesday a bomb blast that occurred in the capital Tuesday won't hurt its performance this year, and forecast sales to expand 3.9% from 2002.

"The bombing won't hurt our sales performance," Astra's president Budi Setiadharma told reporters.

Setiadharma said the company expects its car sales this year to rise to around 330,000 units from 317,761 units a year earlier.

He said he expects consumers' purchasing power to remain steady despite the rupiah's decline following the bombing. The government has strong foreign exchange reserves, which would enable it to stabilize the local currency in the near term, he said.

Astra also said it plans to pay an interim cash dividend of Rp 50 per share.

During the first six months of this year, the company sold 61.919 vehicles, compared with 60,677 units a year ago. -- Dow Jones