CAR SALES EXPECTED TO INCREASE IN MID-2009

Jakarta, March 10 (ANTARA) - Domestic car sales are expected to increase in mid 2009 after slowing down in the first two months of this year, an Industry Ministry official said.
"We predict automotive sales will increase in the middle of this year," the ministry's director general of transportation equipment and telematic industries, Budi Darmadi, said on Tuesday.
Car sales fell in January and February 2009 due to pressure on the rupiah's exchange rate against the dollar, he said.
He expressed hope that the global economic slowdown would not worsen the growth of domestic car sales this year.
"It is a good news that the impact of the global crisis on Indonesia is not as bad as that on western countries because the purchasing power of our people is still good and banks have begun to lower their lending rates," he said.
But he added the global crisis would have an impact on the domestic car market at least in the next two months.
He expressed optimism car sales would rebound in mid-2009 when many projects in the private sector were realized and that a great chunk of fresh funds would flow to the public. ***2***