JAKARTA - Bank Indonesia (BI) revealed that the balance of service trade experienced a deficit of USD 4.4 billion in the first quarter of 2024, lower than the deficit in the previous quarter which was recorded at USD 5 billion.
"The decline in the balance sheet deficit was mainly due to an increase in the surplus of travel services and a decrease in the telecommunications, computer and information deficit, as well as financial services," wrote BI's report on Indonesia's Payment Balance, quoted on Sunday, May 26.
In the report, transportation services are still the largest component that contributes to the balance of services deficit. It was noted that transportation services experienced a deficit of US$2.4 billion in the first quarter of 2024 or relatively the same as the previous quarter.
Imports of transportation services have increased, mainly driven by an increase in passenger transportation services, in line with the increase in the number of national tourist visits abroad.
On the other hand, exports of transportation services have also increased, driven by an increase in the acceptance of goods transportation services in line with the increase in the freight rate at the beginning of the year due to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
Then, the travel balance in the first quarter of 2024 resulted in an increase in the surplus of 1.1 billion US dollars from the previous period of 0.8 billion US dollars. This positive performance mainly comes from an increase in travel service revenues.
In addition, the development was caused by an increase in payment of returns from foreign investments that exceeded the increase in income revenues from residential investments abroad.
Furthermore, the receipt of travel services from foreign tourists (tourists) is US$3.6 billion, or higher than the fourth quarter of 2023 which amounted to US$3.5 billion.
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Meanwhile, this increase was mainly influenced by the increase in foreign tourist spending during visits to Indonesia, which was dominated by the increase in foreign tourists from China.
Meanwhile, the number of foreign tourist visits to Indonesia in the first quarter of 2024 reached 3 million people, a decrease of 23 thousand people compared to the previous quarter.
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