Motorcycle sales up by 2.3%

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Sales of new motorcycles in October increased by 2.3 percent to 291,115 units from the level in the previous month, the Indonesian Automotive Industry Association (Gaikindo) said on Thursday.

Automotive giant PT Astra International sold 165,288 units during the month, which was a 17 percent increase from 154,389 units in September. Astra, which makes Honda motorcycles, is the market leader in the country's car and motorcycle market. The publicly-listed company is 35 percent owned by Singapore's Cycle & Carriage Ltd.

Sales of Honda motorcycles rose by 8.2 percent to 150,960 units from 139,477 units, Gaikindo said.

During the first 10 months of this year, Astra sold some 1,35 million motorcycles. Gaikindo did not provide the figure for last year.

The association said that the rise in motorcycle sales was attributable to stronger demand as banks had been aggressively providing consumer loans amid declining interest rates.

Motorcycle sales are one way of gauging domestic consumption, which has been the main driver of the country's economic growth over the past couple of years.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) earlier this week reported that the economy grew by 3.93 percent during the third quarter of compared to the same period last year. The growth was mainly driven by consumer consumption and government spending as exports and investments remained weak. The government usually boosts its spending during the second half of the year.

The government is targeting a 4 percent economic growth rate for this year.

Analysts have said that consumer spending would likely grow more strongly in the fourth quarter as people spend more during the year-end festivities.