Surplus Payment Balance, Ministry Of Finance: Positive Impact Of Structural Reform

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) stated that the Indonesia Payment Balance (NPI) surplus of 6.5 billion US dollars in the first quarter of 2023 is one proof of the government's success in making national economic updates.

Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency (BKF) Febrio Kacaribu said this score was better than the fourth quarter of 2022, which at that time was USD 4.7 billion.

This surplus reflects Indonesia's external resilience which is maintained amidst global conditions that are still facing pressure. Structural reform to encourage investment and industrial downstream has proven to have a positive impact on the performance of the national economy, including Indonesia's balance of payments," he said in a written statement, Wednesday, May 24.

According to Febrio, the current account surplus that continues and the increasing surplus of capital and financial transactions supports NPI's performance this quarter. It was stated that the current transaction surplus in the first quarter of 2023 was recorded at USD 3 billion or 0.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

The current transaction surplus is still quite high, although lower than the previous quarter, the fourth quarter of 2022 amounted to 4.2 billion US dollars. The surplus is supported by a balance sheet that is still positive, supported by goods export performance which is quite good as demand from trading partner countries and also stable secondary revenue surplus," said Febrio.

Meanwhile, the NPI surplus was previously reported by Bank Indonesia (BI) earlier this week. The monetary authority revealed that Indonesia's balance of payments was accompanied by a surplus of capital and financial transactions.

"Bank Indonesia assesses that the increasing performance of NPI in the first quarter of 2023 continues to support external resilience," said Head of the BI Communications Department Erwin Haryono.