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Indonesia records $4.5b surplus in balance of payment
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A pedestrian passes by the Bank Indonesia building in Central Jakarta. (JP/Wienda Parwitasari)
I
ndonesia recorded a US$4.5 billion surplus in its balance of payment (BoP) in the first three months of the year, thanks to the surplus in the capital and financial accounts and despite a deficit in the current account.
The $4.5 billion surplus is similar to that of the fourth quarter of 2016 but marks a significant improvement over the first quarter of 2016, when the country recorded a deficit of $300 million in the BoP.
"The increase in BoP drove foreign reserves up to $121.8 billion from $116.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2016," Bank Indonesia (BI) spokesman Tirta Segara said in a statement on Friday.
The capital and financial accounts recorded a $7.9 billion surplus, up 3.95 percent from $7.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2016 and almost twice the $4.2 billion surplus in last year’s first quarter.
Tirta said the increase was due to inflows to securities like stocks and government bonds.
Meanwhile, the current account saw a $2.4 billion deficit, 14.29 percent bigger than the $2.1 billion recorded in the previous quarter, but much smaller than the $4.7 billion deficit seen a year earlier.
Tirta reasoned that a higher deficit in the oil and gas trade was due to soaring oil prices amid the decline in oil lifting. The central bank projects a positive BoP for the full year, supported by strong domestic economic prospects. (ags)
