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Comments on other issues: Trade balance positive with $454.4m surplus
May 1, Online Continuing the trend of previous months, Indonesiaâs trade balance booked a surplus in April on weak imports
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strong>May 1, Online
Continuing the trend of previous months, Indonesia's trade balance booked a surplus in April on weak imports. Monthly surplus stood at US$454.4 million in a fourth consecutive month this year, although much less than the $1.13 billion posted in March, Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported Friday.
Your comments:
A half a billion dollar trade surplus on the back of declining imports and exports, with the former more than the latter, hence the surplus. Is this positive news? It's like a company that says it's in the black.
Yes, it's profitable, but upon scrutiny of the accounts, the profit comes from a disposal of assets, not from product sales.
Wandering Star
Indonesian manufacturers and factories rely heavily on imports of raw materials to construct finished products to be sold domestically and internationally.
The deep drop in imports portends serious trouble. It signals demand is way down in the domestic and international markets for Indonesian made products.
This has been going on for seven straight months and it's a major red flag. That's why the Indonesia stock market went negative today. This means large layoffs are occurring all over Indonesia as factories and manufacturing centers idle or slow production.
S. Dollar
