The country recorded a US$3.61 billion trade surplus last month, the highest since December 2010, as imports contracted more sharply than exports. The country booked a $17.07 billion trade surplus in the January-October period, a reversal of the $2.12 billion deficit recorded in the same period last year.

Exports jumped 3.09 percent in October from the previous month to $14.39 billion, the highest recorded since December 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged global trade, but remained 3.29 percent lower than October of last year.

Meanwhile, imports tumbled by 6.79 percent month-to-month (mtm) and 26.93 percent year-on-year (yoy) to $10.78 billion due to weak domestic demand.

“The trade data showed improving global demand from our major trading partners, such as China and India, but at the same time, domestic demand remained weak,” Bank Permata economist Josua Pardede told The Jakarta Post on Monday. “This is an early sign of another economic contraction in the fourth quarter as household consumption and investment remain sluggish.”

Several economic indicators, including imports and the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), pointed to a further contraction in household consumption and investment in the October-December period, albeit to a lesser extent than the previous two quarters, he added.

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