Bank Indonesia: Current Account Deficit Improved to 1.86% of GDP in Q3-2015
The current account balance of Indonesia improved due to the stronger non-oil & gas trade balance. Indonesia's current account deficit eased to USD $4.0 billion, or 1.86 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), in the third quarter of 2015. This performance was much better than the USD $7.0 billion deficit (3.02 percent of GDP) recorded in Q3-2014 or USD $4.2 billion (1.95 percent of GDP) in Q2-2015. Meanwhile, the balance of payments showed a deficit of USD $4.6 billion, up from the deficit of USD $2.93 billion in the preceding quarter.
The current account improved primarily due to the stronger non-oil & gas trade balance as imports declined notably by 18.2 percent (y/y) amid curbed domestic demand. Meanwhile, exports of non-oil & gas experienced a less pronounced decline (11.0 percent y/y) due to falling commodity prices, and despite real export growth of 4.5 percent (y/y).
The oil & gas trade deficit remained relatively stable from the previous quarter as the decline in the gas trade surplus was offset by a decline in the oil trade deficit. Furthermore, Bank Indonesia stated that "a smaller services account deficit due to a decline in transportation services (freight) in line with fewer imports of goods as well as growing travel account surplus due to an increase in international visitors to Indonesia also buoyed current account performance."