JAKARTA (Yosefardi) – Increased and faster government spending, low energy costs and the recent Bank Indonesia (BI) interest rate cut are set to spur significant growth in the construction industry.
Key industry players forecast total cement consumption to grow more than 5% in 2016. This follows a rather limited growth of just 1% in 2015, according to Indonesian Cement Association (ASI) data.
After a remarkably sluggish first part of 2015, cement consumption rebounded thanks to the commencement of several infrastructure developments, toll roads and dam projects.
These will continue to support cement consumption in the midterm as many projects will take years to finish.
A fresh boost was also given by the applauded decision by the government to conduct early bids in 2015 for 2016 projects with the aim of speeding up government spending in the current year.