City growth to be minus 17.6%

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta's economy is expected to contract by 17.62 percent this year, down substantially from the 5.01 percent growth recorded last year, the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) said Saturday.

"The figure is the lowest for the last 30 years, during which the city has never recorded a negative growth rate," BPS official Rusman Heriawan was quoted by Antara as saying.

The economic contraction in Jakarta, which has a population of about 10 million people, is likely to be among the worst in Indonesia's 27 provinces, Rusman said. The city of Jakarta is classified as a province for administrative purposes.

Other provinces where a large contraction in the economy is expected are West, Central and East Java and Yogyakarta with respective growth rates of negative 16.95 percent, negative 14.61 percent, negative 15.44 percent and negative 12.35 percent, he said.

The growth rate in Bali is forecast to be 7.19 percent, in Sumatra negative 9.75 percent, in Kalimantan negative 7.07 percent, in Sulawesi negative 8.18 percent, and in other provinces at an average of negative 4.36 percent, Rusman said. (hhr)