JAKARTA, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Indonesia's economy grew at a lower-than-expected annual rate of 5.2 percent in the final quarter of 2008, slowing due to weaker global demand for its major commodities such as palm oil and rubber, government data showed on Monday.
Analysts had expected annual growth in the final three months of the year to slow to 5.7 percent from 6.1 percent in the third quarter and the authorities forecast a further slowdown to 4-5 percent growth this year.
Still, Southeast Asia's biggest economy has outperform General Yukio Hatoyama told reporters. "Really I think he should be fired immediately. He's damaged the national interest."
POTENTIALLY LETHAL?
Asked if he intended to resign, Nakagawa, a right-leaning lawmaker who has also held farm and trade portfolios, said it was up to the prime minister to decide his fate.
Political analysts said if Nakagawa stepped down or was axed it would be a serious blow to Aso, who appointed his close ally to hold both the finance minister post and the banking supervision portfolio when he took office last September.
"Losing someone in charge of the financial system and public finances at this juncture ... is potentially lethal for his (Aso's) own tenure," said Koichi Nakano, a Sophia University political science professor.
Even if Nakagawa stays, "it will add to the impression that Aso is well past his expiration date," Nakano said.
Grilled in a parliamentary panel over his behaviour, Nakagawa later said he had sipped wine at a luncheon toast on the day of the news conference, but had not consumed an entire glass.
"I did not drink a glassful," he said.
The government's top spokesman, Takeo Kawamura, defended Nakagawa, saying the finance minister had not been under the influence of alcohol and had had similar problems after taking medicine for a hernia.
"He told me that he caught a cold as he had a busy schedule in preparations for the G7 meeting. I told him to take heed of his health conditions," Kawamura told a news conference.
Japanese TV broadcasters and several national newspapers issued news stories calling attention to Nakagawa's behaviour at the news conference at the G7 gathering to discuss the world financial crisis. Video of the media conference was widely circulated on the Internet.
Japan has been hit hard by the global downturn. Its economy is suffering an unprecedented slump in exports, posting in the final quarter of last year its biggest GDP contraction since the first oil crisis in 1974. (Additional reporting by Chisa Fujioka and Yuzo Saeki; Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Rodney Joyce and Dean Yates)