Indonesia's fiscal outlook benign but authorities hawkish: Citi

In Citi Research's Indonesia Economics View report dated Oct 21, economist Helmi Arman shared his takeaways from the Jakarta Macro Meetings on Oct 18.

The fiscal deficit stood at 1.35 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) as of end-September, down from 2 per cent in the year-ago period. Indonesia's Ministry of Finance has lowered its projection for the FY 2018 fiscal deficit to 1.8 per cent to 2 per cent of gross domestic product, down from 2.1 per cent previously. Said Citi: "We think this forecast looks credible, given the …