RI Manufacturing Rises From Contraction, Airlangga Reveals Positive Signal For The Economy

JAKARTA - The Manufacturing PMI Index or Purchasing Managers' Index in August 2025 was 51.5, an increase significantly compared to July 2025 at 49.2.

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said this marked the return of the expansion zone after four months of contraction.

He added that the increase in domestic demand was supported by an increase in export demand, which was the main boost in the increase.

According to him, new outputs and orders grew for the first time in 5 months, export orders rose highest since September 2023, labor and purchasing activities increased so that it became a positive signal for the development of Indonesia's manufacturing sector in the future.

"The return of the manufacturing PMI to the expansion zone shows the continued improvement in domestic economic conditions and the increasingly stronger optimism of business actors in line with improving people's purchasing power conditions and supporting production growth in the coming period," he said in his statement, Tuesday, August 2.

Airlangga said that the Government will continue to maintain this growth momentum with several policies, including the implementation of Labor Intensive Industrial Credit and increasing demand for domestic products through the Harbolnas program.

He hopes that the trade balance surplus in the future will continue, along with the positive prospects reflected in the expansion of the Manufacturing PMI.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's trade balance again had a surplus of 4.17 billion US dollars for July, an increase of 1.71 percent (mtm) compared to the previous month.

This sustainable surplus confirms the solid outlook for the national economy. The surplus was supported by the improvement in export performance which increased by 5.6 percent (mtm) to 24.75 billion US dollars higher than the import performance of 20.57 billion US dollars in July.

Airlangga said that responding to the issue of imposing new Indonesian trade rates with the United States (US), the trade balance with the US recorded a surplus of US$2.2 billion for the non-oil and gas sector in July 2025.

"This surplus is supported by the maintenance of export performance where Indonesia is still subject to a baseline tariff of 10 percent for exports to the US in July," he said.

Airlangga mengaku, meningkatnya aktivitas manufaktur di beberapa mitra dagang utama Indonesia mendorong permintaan atas produk Indonesia.

Hal ini tercermin dari indeks PMI manufaktur India yang naik dari level 58,4 ke level 59,1, ASEAN naik dari level 48,6 ke level 50,1, dan Uni Eropa naik dari level 49,2 ke level 49,6 pada bulan Juli.

Mayoritas negara tujuan utama ekspor non-migas Indonesia mencatatkan kenaikan.

Sementara itu, Tiongkok masih menjadi tujuan utama ekspor non-migas, disusul Amerika Serikat dan India.

Airlangga admitted that the increasing manufacturing activity in several main Indonesian trading partners was encouraging demand for Indonesian products.

This is reflected in India's manufacturing PMI index which rose from level 58.4 to level 59.1, ASEAN rose from level 48.6 to level 50.1, and the European Union rose from level 49.2 to level 49.6 in July.

The majority of Indonesia's main destinations for non-oil and gas exports recorded an increase.

Meanwhile, China is still the main destination for non-oil and gas exports, followed by the United States and India.