Surplus Trend in Indonesia Trade Balance Predicted to Continue
Translator
Ricky Mohammad Nugraha
Editor
Petir Garda Bhwana
Senin, 12 April 2021 09:21 WIB
Stacks of containers are seen at New Priok Port Container Terminal One, Tanjung Priok, Jakarta, Tuesday, December 8, 2020. World trade has not yet recovered so that empty containers are still piling up in several ports in the world, especially in Singapore and America. TEMPO / Tony Hartawan
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The government predicts that Indonesia’s latest trade balance will see the surplus trend to continue in the next months.
Economic Affairs Coordinating Ministry’s Deputy of Macro Economics and Finance, Iskandar Simorangkir, said that the surplus is driven by the increase in exports as the global economy recovers from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Iskandar Simorangkir also said that the export growth will also be motivated by the global price increase apart from the global demands. He also believes imports will see growth, especially in raw material imports as it is needed to fulfill the need of export-oriented factories and domestic needs.
“But in general the exports will be larger than imports which will make the trade balance to a surplus,” said the Deputy to Bisnis.com on April 11.
A Bloomberg consensus on Indonesia’s trade balance in March 2021 predicts an average surplus of US$1.50 billion with the highest estimate predicted at US$1.92 billion and US$1.03 at its lowest.
The Statistics Indonesia (BPS) also recorded a trade balance surplus of US$2 billion in February this year which was boosted by exports exceeding imports.
