W

ith the global economy slowly recovering, especially in main export destinations such as Europe and the US, it will be difficult for Indonesia to maintain its trade surplus at last years’ level, a minister said.

Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan said in Jakarta on Thursday that the decline in the demand from Indonesia’s main buyers such as Europe and the US could result in the decline in the country’s exports this year,

“If we can achieve last year’s exports, it will be a good achievement,” Gita said on the sidelines of an economic ministerial meeting at the National Planning Agency (Bappenas) in Jakarta.

Gita also said that imports should be closely monitored so that the surge in the flow of foreign goods into the country would not affect the trade surplus. “We have to stop illegal imports,” he said. “Common illegally imported goods are toys, steel, helmets, fruit and vegetables,” he said, adding that the entry of illegal foreign products had seriously hurt local producers.

To intensify the fight against illegally imported goods, Gita said that the Trade Ministry would conduct much more intensive cooperation with the customs directorate general and law-enforcement officers.

In 2011, Indonesia’s exports were valued at US$203.62 billion and imports were $177.3 billion, making a surplus of $26.32 billion.

Economic think-tank National Economy Committee (KEN) predicted that exports might decline, both in terms of value and volume, due to the ongoing global crisis.

KEN proposed that to prevent a steep export decline, the government should open new markets in other regions for its goods other than the traditional destinations, such as China, the US and Europe.

Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said that not only Indonesia, but other members of ASEAN also believed that they had to start opening new markets in regions outside their usual export targets.

“One of the new regions that ASEAN countries will try to cooperate with is the Latin America region,” Agus said while adding that the agreement to intensify trade with that region was made during the latest Asian Development Bank (ADB) meeting in Manila.

A joint-report composed by ADB and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) reveals that Asia is now Latin America’s second-biggest trading partner, with about a one-fifth share of the total of Latin America and Caribbean trade.

Growing at an annual average of 20 percent since 2000, trade between Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean reached an estimated $442 billion in 2011.

The surge being fostered by an increase in free trade agreements (FTAs) between Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Between 2004 and 2011 an average of two FTAs took effect every year between the regions, resulting in a total of 18 such agreements today.