Surplus For 43 Months, Indonesia's External Resilience Is Still Maintained But Stay Alert

Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency, Ministry of Finance, Febrio Kacaribu (Photo: Special)

JAKARTA Indonesia's trade balance in November 2023 recorded a surplus of 2.41 billion US dollars, thus increasing Indonesia's trade balance surplus record to 43 consecutive months.

Cumulatively, Indonesia's trade balance during January to November 2023 experienced a surplus of 33.63 billion US dollars.

Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency, Ministry of Finance, Febrio Kacaribu said that Indonesia's trade balance performance, which is still in surplus, reflects Indonesia's external resilience which is still maintained amid increasing global risks.

"Nevertheless, the Government will continue to be aware of this global, escalative risk by optimizing the role of the State Budget to absorb the turmoil that occurs, thereby minimizing its impact on the national economy," he said.

Indonesia's exports in November 2023 were recorded at 22.00 billion US dollars, a decrease of 0.67 percent compared to last month (mtm) and a contraction of 8.56 percent compared to November 2022 (yoy).

Meanwhile, cumulatively in January to November, exports were recorded at US$236.41 billion. However, if viewed in volume, Indonesia's exports in November still grew by 6.5 percent (yoy) or 7.2 percent (ytd) cumulatively.

On the other hand, Indonesia's imports in November 2023 were recorded at 19.59 billion US dollars, an increase of 4.89 percent compared to last month (mtm) or 3.29 percent (yoy) compared to the same period last year.

The increase in imports was driven by imports of capital goods and consumption, which grew by 13.66 percent (yoy) and 19.82 percent (yoy), respectively.

Febrio said that food and beverage products for households contributed (share) to the largest import of consumer goods, namely 31.38 percent, followed by semi-lasting consumer goods products of 17.24 percent.

Meanwhile, imports of raw/auxiliary materials contracted by 1.05 percent (yoy). Cumulatively, Indonesia's imports in the January to November 2023 period reached 202.78 billion US dollars.

According to Febrio, the slowdown in global demand that affects trading activities actually does not only occur in Indonesia, but is also faced by Indonesia's trading partner countries such as China and the United States which recorded contractions in export and import activities.

At the regional level, export and import contractions also occurred in Malaysia and Singapore.

Several government policies such as the sustainability of SDA downstreaming, increasing the competitiveness of national export products, and diversifying major trading partner countries, are also expected to be able to maintain the positive performance of Indonesia's exports, amidst global activities that are still challenging.