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Bank Indonesia projects surplus in balance of payments in Q4
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Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo (Antara/Sigid Kurniawan)
T
he trade deficit reached US$7.5 billion in the first 11 months of the year, but Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor Perry Warjiyo has projected a balance of payment surplus in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Along November, BI recorded capital inflow at $7.9 million.
“The figure did not include global bonds issued by the government in early December,” Parry added as reported by kontan.co.id.
Perry, however, projected that the current account deficit would swell to more than 3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) triggered by the $1.77 billion trade deficit in October and $2.05 billion trade deficit in November.
“The current account deficit will be more than 3 percent of GDP in the fourth quarter, but because the deficit in the first quarter was only at 1.7 percent, the yearly current account deficit will be about 3 percent of GDP,” Perry said as quoted by kontan.co.id.
Meanwhile, BI senor deputy governor Mirza Adityaswara added that the surplus in the balance of payment would continue if the government could collect about $3 billion from the global bonds issued in December. “So, it is the first time in 2018 that our balance of payment posted an increase,” he added.
Mirza expressed his confidence that the surplus would continue in 2019, particularly due to the United States fed funds rate, which is projected to increase twice next year.
“If the positive sentiment continues, the balance of payment will be much better and the current account could narrow to 2.5 percent of GDP [in 2019],” he added.
