The International Monetary Fund ( IMF) has forecast that Indonesia's economy would grow by 5.2 percent this year, lower than the government's prediction of 5.9 percent, an IMF senior official has said.

IMF Representative for Indonesia Stephen Schwart said here Friday that the prediction was based on the potential for recovery of the people's affordability in the second quarter this year.

The improvement of the purchasing power depends on the decline of interest rate and oil price, the IMF official was quoted Saturday by Kompas newspaper as saying.

"The recovery of Indonesia's economy also strongly depends on the global economy," he added.

The official said Indonesia's 6.2 percent target of economic growth stipulated in the state budget was difficult to reach.

He said Indonesia may face some economic risks from the tight global monetary policy and the slow-down of liquidation of the funds in the country's state budget.

Separately, IMF Assistant Director for the Asia and Pacific Region Milan Zavadjil said the Indonesian government must encourage the absorption of funds from the budget to support economic growth and to conduct structural reform.

Source: Xinhua