The March surplus was also driven by a more-than-anticipated drop in imports.
Indonesia saw its trade surplus buoyed in March, backed by strong monthly export growth amid an unexpected drop in imports.
The trade surplus in March amounted to 13-month highs of US$4.47 billion, according to Statistics Indonesia data. It was far above predictions of $1 billion from Moody’s Analytics and $1.57 billion from state-owned lender Bank Mandiri.
“The volume and value of global trade is forecast to increase throughout 2024, the dynamics of which will follow the development of global geopolitics," said Amalia in a press briefing on Monday.
Indonesia booked $22.43 billion in exports in March, declining 4.19 percent year-on-year (yoy) from $23.42 billion recorded in the same period last year.
It saw a 16.4 percent increase, however, when compared with the preceding month of $19.27 billion.
Amelia noted that the strong monthly growth was driven by increased manufacturing activity from Indonesia’s main trading partners, namely the United States, India and China, all of which have posted an expansive manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI).
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