BI: Trade Balance Surplus Topolang External Resilience Of The Indonesian Economy

Head of the BI Communication Department Erwin Haryono. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Bank Indonesia (BI) said the trade balance surplus supported Indonesia's external economic resilience from global shocks. Based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), Indonesia's trade balance surplus in March 2024 increased to 4.47 billion US dollars. "In the future, Bank Indonesia views this development as positive to support the external resilience of the Indonesian economy further," said Head of the BI Communication Department Erwin Haryono in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Tuesday, April 23. Erwin said the surplus was higher than the surplus in February 2024 of US$0.83 billion. In the future, Bank Indonesia will continue to strengthen policy synergies with the government and other authorities in order to continue to improve external resilience and support continued national economic growth. The higher March 2024 trade balance surplus mainly sourced from a significantly increased non-oil and gas trade balance surplus. Non-oil and gas trade balance in March 2024 recorded a surplus of US$6.51 billion, higher than the surplus in the previous month of 2.60 billion US dollars. The high non-oilgas trade balance sheet survey is in line with rising non-oil and gas exports reaching 21.15 billion US dollars.

The positive performance of non-oil and gas exports is supported by exports of natural resource-based commodities, such as precious metals and jewelry/eyes, iron and steel, as well as animal/nabati fat and oil as well as exports of manufacturing products such as machinery and electrical equipment as well as various chemical 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, the oil and gas trade balance deficit was recorded to have increased to the level of 2.04 billion US dollars in March 2024 in line with the increase in oil and gas imports higher than the increase in oil and gas exports.