RI motorcycle sales rise 34%

RI motorcycle sales rise 34%

JAKARTA: Indonesia's motorcycle sales rose 34 percent in March from a year earlier, faster than the growth in February, PT Astra International, the nation's biggest auto distributor, said on Tuesday.

Motorcycle sales rose to 400,720 units in March from 299,820 units in the same month last year, Astra said in a faxed report, citing figures from the Indonesian Motorcycle Industry Association. Motorcycles sold by Jakarta-based Astra accounted for 54 percent of the total in March, the figures showed.

For the first quarter, motorcycle sales rose 33 percent to 1.15 million units, from 862,790 a year earlier.

Indonesian sales of motorcycles, the most popular form of transport, increased at an average of 53 percent a year in the past five years. Faster economic growth and record low interest rates helped companies sell more cars and motorcycles in Indonesia. -- Bloomberg