BPS Brings Bad News! Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine Will Have An Impact On Indonesia's Export And Import Performance

JAKARTA - The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) said that Russia's invasion of Ukraine would have an impact on Indonesia's international trade with the two countries.

BPS Deputy for Distribution and Service Statistics, Setianto, said that military tensions will certainly hamper supplies, both those received by Indonesia and those sent to the country.

“The Ukraine war cannot be separated from our supply and demand, especially those related to foreign trade. So maybe that has a direct impact on some of Indonesia's export and import commodities", he said when holding a virtual press conference on Tuesday, March 1.

However, Setianto could not provide more detailed information on how big the impact would be. The reason is, BPS itself has not carried out calculations during the current month.

“It's just that, how much influence we have we can't answer. Later, when BPS releases the results of exports and imports as well as inflation in the following month, it will only be able to provide complete information because we cannot speculate and only take pictures of what has happened", explained Setianto.

In the previous VOI report, it was known that Russia and Ukraine were Indonesia's strategic trading partners in the Eastern European region with a valuation of billions of US dollars.

In detail, Indonesia posted a trade balance surplus of 240 million US dollars throughout 2021 with Russia. This figure was obtained from the export value of 1.49 billion US dollars compared to imports of 1.25 billion US dollars.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's mainstay commodities for export to Russia include animal fats and oils, food, clothing, and spices. Meanwhile, imports consist of mineral fuels and aircraft components.

Meanwhile, for Ukraine, Indonesia recorded a deficit of around 625 billion US dollars last year due to more imports with 1.04 billion US dollars compared to exports of 416.99 million US dollars. The RI-Ukraine trade book consists of animal fats and oils, cocoa, paper, and other foodstuffs.