TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Presidential expert staffer for economic affairs Ahmad Erani Yustika said that Indonesia's economy was improving following the surplus in the trade balance of March 2019.

“The performance of the trade balance that continues to improve is made possible by the government’s efforts,” said Erani in a written statement that Tempo received on Monday, April 15.

According to Erani, the government could revert the pessimistic view expressed by several parties toward the trade balance of March 2019. Earlier, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) noted that some people augured the trade balance would experience a deficit at around US$464 million to US$1 billion.

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“The reality is, Indonesia’s trade balance records a surplus up to US$540.2 million in March 2019,” said Erani, adding that the figure jumped from the previous month's US$329.9 million.

The surplus, he went on, resulted from the export growth by over 10 percent. Throughout March 2019, national exports reached US$15.58 million, increasing by 11.7 percent month-on-month. The non-oil and gas, meanwhile, recorded a hike at 13 percent.

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“The export growth to export destination countries brings hopes to the improvement of trade balance. Besides, the government continued to expand to non-traditional countries, such as Africa,” Erani noted.

He further underlined that the government’s efforts in curbing imports had borne fruit as import volume was lower than that of export. “So trade balance is expected to record a surplus until the end of the year.”

CAESAR AKBAR