Trade Balance Indonesia: $490 Million Surplus in March 2016
Indonesia's Statistics Agency (BPS) announced today that the nation's trade balance posted a USD $490 million trade surplus in March 2016. In line with analysts' forecasts, Indonesia's March trade surplus shrank considerably from a USD $1.1 billion surplus one month earlier. Indonesia's March exports reached a total of USD $11.79 billion, while imports were recorded at USD $11.30 billion. Although the nation's exports and imports rose compared to the preceding month, there remains ongoing concern about the slumping export/import figures on a year-on-year basis.
Indonesia's March 2016 export figure of USD $11.79 billion fell 13.5 percent (y/y) from export realization in the same month one year earlier. Meanwhile, the USD $11.3 billion March import figure implies a 10.4 percent (y/y) plunge from imports in March 2015. These sliding export and import figures on an annual basis indicate that both domestic and global demand deteriorated over the past 12 months. Weakening imports implies that domestic demand in Indonesia is slowing. This signals weaker manufacturing activity (which requires imported raw materials), weaker purchasing power (people consume less imported products) as well as fewer imports of capital goods (which hints at weakening investment).
Meanwhile, weakening exports imply that there remains subdued global demand for Indonesian products. Indonesia is particularly a (raw) commodities exporter. Due to sliding commodity prices over the past year, Indonesia's export performance (both volume-wise and particularly in terms of value) has weakened. For accelerated economic growth an improvement of the country's export performance would be highly desirable.
Indonesia's Export-Import Performance in the 1st Quarter:
| Quarter I 2015 |
Quarter I 2016 |
Growth (%) |
|
| Export (in USD billion) |
39.01 | 33.59 | -13.9 |
| Import (in USD billion) |
36.73 | 31.94 | -13.0 |
| Balance (in USD billion) |
2.31 | 1.65 | -28.6 |
Source: BPS
Balance of Trade Indonesia:
