Indonesia's August vehicle sales likely up 40 pct

JAKARTA, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Indonesia's vehicle sales are estimated to have grown 39.9 percent year-on-year in August, slower than the increase a month earlier, due to power disruptions, a senior industry executive said on Tuesday.

Jodjana Jody, head of sales at PT Toyota Astra Motor, said Toyota sold 18,770 vehicles last month, up 39.1 percent from 13,492 units in the year-ago period, while he predicted total sales from all manufacturers reached around 58,000 last month.

The strong sales growth came despite the government decision to raise subsidised fuel prices in May to help reduce the ballooning fuel subsidy bill in the state budget. Toyota Astra is the distributor of vehicles from Toyota Motor (7203.T) in Indonesia. It is jointly owned by PT Astra International Tbk (ASII.JK), the country's largest automotive distributor, and Toyota.

Last month a senior Toyota Astra official said annual vehicle sales in the fourth most populous nation are expected to touch a historic high of between 575,000-600,000 units despite the fuel price hike.

Automotive sales data is used by analysts to gauge economic activity in Southeast Asia's biggest economy, where consumption is a key driver of growth.

Some analysts say they expect rising interest rates and inflation to put a brake on the strong pace of automotive sales since most purchases are financed by loans. (Reporting by Harry Suhartono, editing by Sugita Katyal)