Astra Says blast won't hurt sales

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