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Trade surplus narrows on ‘ending’ commodity windfall
Indonesia’s trade surplus shrank in July but exports still exceeded imports for the 27th month in a row.
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Workers transfer crude palm oil to tanker trucks at the Tanjung Emas seaport in Semarang, Central Java, on April 7, 2022, for distribution to cooking oil packaging factories. (AFP/Daffa Ramya Kanzuddin )
I
ndonesia’s trade surplus has shrunk as lower CPO prices weighed on exports while high oil prices drove up imports, data for July show.
In a press briefing on Monday, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) reported that the country's trade surplus shrank to US$4.22 billion, down from $5.09 billion in June, but July nonetheless marked a 27th consecutive month in which Indonesia exported more than it imported.
The figure exceeds forecasts from state-owned Bank Mandiri and financial research firm Moody's Analytics, who had projected a trade surplus of $3.85 billion and $3.7 billion, respectively.
"The export volume of Indonesia's main commodities is generally stagnating, given that some international commodity prices have begun to decline; we need to watch our trade balance in the months ahead," BPS deputy head Setianto told reporters.
The press briefing came a day before President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo was scheduled to present the government’s budget policy for fiscal year 2023.
Exports grew 32 percent year-on-year (yoy) to $25.57 billion, slowing down from annual growth of 40.99 percent recorded in the preceding month. Imports, meanwhile, increased 39.86 percent yoy to $21.35 billion, reflecting a strong increase in consumer spending compared to last year, when coronavirus containment measures curtailed public activities.
Bank Mandiri had forecast annual export and import growth of 23 percent and 31 percent, respectively.
