The growth of Indonesia’s retail sales jumped for the second consecutive month in March, supported by strong demand in the domestic consumer-reliant economy, a recent Bank Indonesia (BI) survey shows. The annual growth of the central bank’s real sales index stood at 25.1 percent in March versus 18.8 percent in Febru
The growth of Indonesia's retail sales jumped for the second consecutive month in March, supported by strong demand in the domestic consumer-reliant economy, a recent Bank Indonesia (BI) survey shows.
The annual growth of the central bank's real sales index stood at 25.1 percent in March versus 18.8 percent in February, and it is expected that the growth will continue in April to 27.8 percent, according to the survey.
“Consumption growth remains on an upward trend,” BI said in the survey, published earlier this week.
Economists have predicted that Indonesia's April legislative election would boost consumption in the country.
“The rise in [the real sales index] was mainly supported by strong demand in the ‘other goods' category, as well as ‘information and communication tools' category.”
Sales of “other goods” and information and communication tools expanded 52.7 percent and 41.4 percent, respectively, while food, beverage and tobacco sales grew 29.6 percent.
Indonesia's economic growth has resulted in greater purchasing power and an increase in the middle class, with global consulting firm McKinsey & Company estimating the number of people in the middle class will double in 20 years to reach at least 90 million by 2030.
The number of subscriber identification module (SIM) cards sold nationwide exceeded 120 percent of the total population as of 2012, while sales of food and beverages nationwide reached about Rp 700 trillion (US$60.9 billion) last year.
Café and Restaurant Association of Indonesia (Apkrindo) chairman Eddy Sutanto said that most consumer spending was on food. “Many people want to eat something other than home-cooked food, as they have increased purchasing power,” he said.