The Ministry Of Finance Calls The NTT Trade Balance Surflus Worth 3.4 Million US Dollars

Head of the NTT DJPb Regional Office of the Ministry of Finance Catur Ariyanto Widodo. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

The Regional Office of the Directorate General of Treasury (DJPb) of East Nusa Tenggara Province, Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) noted that the trade balance in NTT had a surplus of US$3.4 million was driven by the growth of commodity exports to Timor Leste. "The trade balance in September 2022 had a surplus of 3.4 million US dollars continuing the surplus trend for 9 consecutive months," said Head of the NTT DJPb Regional Office of the Ministry of Finance Catur Ariyanto Widodo when confirmed in Kupang, quoted from Antara, Saturday, October 29. He conveyed this related to the performance of the NTT regional trade sector as of September 2022. Accumulatively (January-August 202), he said, the trade balance surplus in NTT reached 31.9 million US dollars, which was driven by an increase in exports to Timor Leste in the third quarter of 2.65 million US dollars. Catur explained that export foreign exchange in September grew 38.06 percent driven by an increase in exports of the main commodities growing quarterly (qtq), namely processed food (34.09 percent), furniture (35.2 percent) and cement (53.5 percent). The largest export value to Timor Leste in the form of processed food reached 6.5 million US dollars, followed by furniture 3.1 million US dollars, and cement 2.03 million US dollars. Meanwhile, import foreign exchange until the third quarter of 2022 reached 1.53 million US dollars, dominated by goods in the form of auxiliary raw materials (share 99.34 percent) with the origin of the country still dominated by Timor Leste. A number of imported commodities from Timor Leste to NTT grew rapidly in the third quarter, namely coffee (441 percent qtq), while Kopra imports contracted 81.9 percent (qtq). "So in general the NTT trade balance is in surplus. This is quite good to show that the NTT economy is still growing," he said. He hopes that the trade balance surplus in the future will continue to grow, supported by increased exports of various commodities, including those produced by Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) from NTT.