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March imports up 30% mtm in Ramadan bump
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A worker cuts an iron bar on July 15, 2022, at the Belawan International Container Terminal in Medan, North Sumatra. (Antara/Fransisco Carolio)
I
ndonesia saw a significant month-to-month (mtm) increase in imports in March, resulting from high consumer demand and increased purchases of manufacturing inputs during the Ramadan season.
March imports were up 29.33 percent mtm to US$20.59 billion, according to data released by Statistics Indonesia (BPS) on Monday. However, the figure was down 6.26 percent year-on-year (yoy).
For the past three years, March has brought the country’s highest imports of the year, BPS noted. This is thought to be a result of increased consumption during Ramadan and Idul Fitri.
All import categories saw mtm increases in March, with the largest coming from capital goods, which rose some 34 percent, followed by consumption goods and raw materials, which both grew nearly 30 percent.
“[The increased imports of capital goods] indicated that investment activities remained resilient,” state-owned lender Bank Mandiri economist Faisal Rachman said in a statement on Monday.
Meanwhile, publicly listed lender Bank Danamon economist Irman Faiz said in a statement on Monday that the bump in consumption imports was a result of Ramadan demand.
On the export side, Indonesia shipped out $23.50 billion worth of goods in March, up 9.9 percent mtm, far behind the month’s import growth.
