Motorcycle sales up by 2.3%

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.