Trade Balance Prints Surplus, BI Values To Strengthen Indonesia's External Resilience Of The Indonesian Economy

JAKARTA - The trade balance of goods again scored a surplus in October 2023, this is the 42nd consecutive month surplus.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) noted that Indonesia's trade balance in October 2023 again had a surplus of 3.48 billion US dollars, an increase compared to the previous month's 3.41 billion US dollars.

Head of the BI Communication Department Erwin Haryono said, Bank Indonesia (BI) assessed the achievement of a positive trade balance to further support the external resilience of the Indonesian economy.

"In the future, Bank Indonesia will continue to strengthen policy synergies with the Government and other authorities to continue to increase external resilience and support national economic recovery," he explained in his statement, Thursday, November 16.

The main source of the trade balance surplus in October 2023 mainly came from the continued non-oil and gas trade balance surplus which reached 5.31 billion US dollars relatively stable compared to the previous month's achievement of 5.33 billion US dollars.

Erwin conveyed that the non-oil and gas trade balance surplus was supported by strong non-oil exports, especially coal commodities, precious metal and jewelry products, as well as footwear and iron and steel manufacturing products.

Based on destination countries, non-oil and gas exports to China, the United States, and India remain the main contributors to Indonesia's exports. Meanwhile, non-oil and gas imports remain strong in line with the continued improvement in economic activity.

In terms of the oil and gas trade balance, the deficit was observed. The oil and gas trade balance deficit was recorded to have decreased slightly to 1.84 billion US dollars in October 2023 in line with a deeper decline in oil and gas imports from lower exports.