Indonesia's Q1 2026 Economic Growth Highest in 13 Years, Growth Momentum Must Be Maintained
JAKARTA - Indonesia’s economic growth in the first quarter of 2026, covering January to March, reached 5.61% year-on-year (YoY). This achievement represents the highest first-quarter growth in the past 13 years and is attributed to the acceleration of state expenditure from the start of the year.
Head of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti previously announced the first-quarter 2026 economic growth data for Indonesia during a press conference at the BPS head office in Jakarta on Tuesday (5/5/2026). For reference, BPS data records Indonesia’s first-quarter 2013 economic growth at 6.03%.
In line with the first-quarter 2026 growth, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on a current market price basis was recorded at Rp 6,187.2 trillion. The economic growth for the January-March 2026 period was also higher than the fourth quarter of 2025 at 5.39% YoY and the first quarter of 2025 at 4.87% YoY.
Amid ongoing global economic volatility, this achievement is seen to demonstrate the resilience of the domestic economy while opening opportunities for Indonesia to maintain growth momentum towards the 6% range.
“We appreciate the timeliness of the economic team’s steps under President Prabowo’s administration. As we have projected and firmly recommended in the GREAT Institute 2026 Economic Outlook document, the government must indeed shift the paradigm from backloading to frontloading to pump liquidity in the first trimester,” said Yossi, in a press statement on Wednesday (6/5/2026).
“BPS data confirms that this fiscal injection strategy was executed effectively,” he continued.
According to the GREAT Institute, this achievement marks a crucial point after Indonesia’s economic growth has tended to hover around 5% in recent years, particularly after the Covid-19 pandemic.
In addition to setting a domestic record, Indonesia’s economic growth was also higher than that of several major trading partners. Malaysia grew by 5.30%, Singapore by 4.60%, and China at 5.00%.
At the same time, household consumption grew by 5.52% and gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) by 5.96%. These two components contributed 82.65% to the total national GDP.
With this composition, the early-year economic growth is assessed not only to be supported by government spending but also by public consumption and domestic investment activities.
From the production side, the accommodation and food and beverage provision sector recorded the highest growth of 13.14%. This growth reflects increased economic activity during the Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr momentum.
According to Yossi, this pattern shows that the frontloading strategy does not merely accelerate budget absorption but also maintains policy transmission to sectors directly related to public consumption.
This pattern is also evident in the realisation of the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) up to the end of March 2026. State expenditure reached Rp 815 trillion, growing 31.4% YoY.
Central government expenditure reached Rp 610.3 trillion, growing 47.7% YoY. Meanwhile, non-ministry/institution expenditure reached Rp 329.1 trillion, growing 51.5% YoY.
On the other hand, the acceleration of state spending also pushed the APBN deficit to Rp 240.1 trillion or 0.93% of GDP in the first quarter of 2026.