Trade Balance Surplus, BI Values Indonesia's Economic Resilience Top

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Executive Director of the Communication Department of Bank Indonesia (BI) Erwin Haryono said that the trade balance surplus is still continuing so that it can support the external resilience of the Indonesian economy.

Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), Indonesia's trade balance surplus continued in December 2023 amounting to USD 3.31 billion, higher than the surplus in November 2023 of USD 2.41 billion.

With these developments, Indonesia's trade balance in January-December 2023 recorded a surplus of USD 36.93 billion, continuing its surplus in the same period in 2022 of USD 54.46 billion.

"Bank Indonesia views this development as positive to support the external resilience of the Indonesian economy further," he explained in his official statement, Tuesday, January 16.

In the future, Bank Indonesia will continue to strengthen policy synergies with the Government and other authorities in order to continue to increase external resilience and support national economic recovery.

The trade balance surplus in December 2023 comes from an increase in the non-oil and gas trade balance surplus.

The non-oil and gas trade balance in December 2023 recorded a surplus of 5.20 billion US dollars, an increase compared to the previous month's achievement of 4.62 billion US dollars.

Erwin said the development was in line with the strong non-oil and gas exports which reached 20.93 billion US dollars.

The positive performance of non-oil and gas exports is not only supported by the strong export of natural resource-based commodities such as coal and metal ore, but also supported by machine manufacturing products and mechanical equipment.

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.

The oil and gas trade balance deficit recorded a decline to 1.89 billion US dollars in December 2023, in line with the decline in oil and gas imports, amid an increase in oil and gas exports.