JAKARTA (TheInsiderStories) - Indonesia may post trade surplus at the end of 2015 compared to trade deficit of $1.88 billion last year, driven by a sharp drop in imports, says a Central Statistic Bureau (BPS) official.
“At the end of the year, exports might be over $150 billion and imports under $150 billion. The condition is similar to 2010,” BPS’s deputy chief J Sasmito Hadi Wibowo told reporters on Monday.
This current situation, he said, gives room for the central bank (BI) to lower its benchmark rate.
The country posted trade surplus of $1.01 billion in October, little changed from trade surplus in previous month of $1.02 billion a year ago in the same month surplus $20 million, as both exports and imports remained weak.
The Head of BPS Suryamin stated exports was recorded at $12.08 billion in October, down 4 percent from September and plunged by 20.98 percent from October 2014 worth $12.88 billion.
Imports reached $11.07 billion in October, down 4.27 percent from September $11.56 billion and fell 27.81 percent from October 2014 $15.33 billion. This resulted in a deficit of $1.01 billion.
Non-oil and gas exports in the month reached $10.71 billion, down 3.86 percent from September and fell 16.88 percent from the same month last year.
The cumulative exports in the ten months to October reached $127.22 billion, fell 14.04 percent from the same month in 2014, while exports of non-oil and gas exports reached $111.46 billion, down 8.77 percent from a year earlier.
US was recorded as the largest non-oil and gas exports destination worth $1.22 billion, followed by China at $1.09 bilion and Japan $1.01 billion. The three countries contributed $31.05 billion of Indonesia’s non-oil and gas exports in the month.
Non-oil and gas imports reached $9.31 billion or dropped 3.5 percent from previous month and plunged 20.78 percent from October 2014.
Oil and gas imports in October reached $1.76 billion, down 8.12 percent from September and plunged 50.89 percent from the same month last year.
The cumulative imports in the ten months to October reached $119.05 billion, fell 20.47 percent from the same period in 2014. Cumulative oil and gas imports in ten months reached $21.17 billion, down 42.16 percent from a year earlier, while non-oil and gas imports fell 13.46 billion to $97.89 billion from a year earlier. (*)