"The surplus in February, 2020 is quite significant," said Yunita Rusanti, deputy for distribution and service statistics, BPS, at a press conference held in Jakarta on Monday.
Rusanti explained that the surplus was due to an increase in exports and a decline in imports.
The value of exports rose from US$13.6 billion in January to US$13.9 billion in February, an increase of 2.24 percent. Compared to the year-ago period, exports showed an 11-percent increase in February.
Meanwhile, the value of imports in February declined 18.69 percent to US$11.6 billion from US$14.2 billion in January.
The total export figure for the first two months of this year stood at US$27.57 billion, an increase of 4.10 percent compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.
For the same period, imports were pegged at US$25.8 billion, a decline of 4.95 percent compared with the same period a year ago.
Rusanti said the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak affected Indonesia's trade balance in early 2020 since the pandemic had a significant impact on trade cooperation between Indonesia and its largest trading partner, China.
Meanwhile, non-oil and gas exports for the January-February period reached US$25.94 billion, an increase of 7.45 percent from the year-ago period.
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Reporter: Sella Gareta, Yuni Sinaga
Editor: Suharto
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