KONTAN.CO.ID - ​JAKARTA. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has trimmed its economic growth forecast for Indonesia in 2022 to 5.4%, down from 5.6% previously, it said in a statement on Wednesday.

The IMF kept Indonesia's 2023 growth forecast at 6% in its so-called Article IV assessment and described Southeast Asia's biggest economy as "recovering at a brisk pace" from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Washington-based organisation had given the 5.6% 2022 growth projection in its staff report for Article IV on Jan. 26. Wednesday's statement is the version of that assessment that the IMF board has approved.

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The new statement did not explain the downgrade, but it repeated that Indonesia's growth was supported by favourable global commodity prices, the easing of COVID-19 restrictions and rising mobility amid vaccination efforts and continued policy support. It noted that risks remained tilted to the downside.

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Indonesia's economy grew 3.7% in 2021.

The IMF commended Indonesia's pandemic policy response and plans to restore a fiscal deficit ceiling of 3% of gross domestic product in 2023, but urged the central bank to end bond purchases in the primary market - something that Bank Indonesia (BI) has been doing since 2020 to help limit the government's interest costs on debt.

BI, in a statement in response to the assessment, said the IMF's recommendations and economic projections were in line with BI's policy direction and its own assessment of Indonesia's economic recovery.