The deficit primarily stemmed from a decreasing non-oil and gas trade surplus coupled with a stable oil and gas trade deficitJakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's trade balance recorded a narrow USD0.16 billion deficit in September 2019 after achieving a USD0.11 billion surplus the month earlier.
"The deficit primarily stemmed from a decreasing non-oil and gas trade surplus coupled with a stable oil and gas trade deficit," Executive Director of the BI Communication Department, Onny Widjanarko said in a statement received at Jakarta, Saturday.
The non-oil and gas trade surplus reduced on sluggish non-oil and gas export performance as non-oil and gas imports increased, he said.
Nevertheless, overall export growth has shown early signs of improvement from -10.0 percent (yoy) to -5.7 percent (yoy) in September 2019.
Similarly, he noted, overall import growth has also improved, with the contraction easing from -15.7 percent (yoy) to -2.4 percent (yoy) in September 2019.
The non-oil and gas trade balance recorded a USD0.60 billion surplus in September 2019, retreating from USD0.87 billion the month earlier.
Such conditions were explained by weak non-oil and gas exports, held back by global economic moderation and lower commodity prices.
In contrast, he said, non-oil and gas imports have increased on the back of imports of construction materials to fuel solid building investment performance.
Meanwhile, the oil and gas trade deficit in September 2019 stood at USD0.76 billion, relatively stable compared with conditions in the previous period.
Oil and gas exports in the form of crude oil and gas experienced deeper declines in terms of value and volume, while exports of refined products increased on rising demand from Malaysia.
On the other hand, oil and gas imports declined in the reporting period as a result of lower global oil prices.
Bank Indonesia considers the latest trade balance developments in September 2019 a corollary of global economic moderation and the ongoing commodity price slide.
Moving forward, Bank Indonesia will continue to strengthen policy synergy with the Government and other relevant authorities in order to bolster external resilience, including the trade balance outlook.
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Reporter: Azis Kurmala
Editor: Suharto
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