Economist at UOB Group Enrico Tanuwidjaja reviews the latest trade balance figures in Indonesia.

Key Takeaways

“Trade surplus in Feb widened to a high of USD5.5bn from USD3.9bn in Jan on the back of imports’ contraction of 4.3% y/y (vs. consensus of a 9.1% gain and a reversal of Jan’s 1.3%) and growth in exports of 4.5% despite a marked slowdown from 16.4% in Jan.”

“Oil & gas (OG) exports’ growth slowed to slightly less than 20% y/y viz. a whopping 65.1% in Jan, driven mainly by slowdown in mineral fuel exports but offset by respectable gains in machinery and electrical equipment exports. Non-OG exports’ growth also slowed to 3.8% y/y in Feb vs. 14% growth in Feb.”

“Meanwhile, OG imports contracted by 17.1% y/y in Feb, a marked turnaround from Jan’s growth of 30.4% while the non-OG imports contracted at a lesser pace of 1.6% in Feb vs. Jan’s contraction of 2.8%.”