TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Rupiah exchange rate transacted between banks in Jakarta surged on Monday morning which is in line with market expectations for Indonesia's trade balance surplus in December last year.

Rupiah strengthened 123 points or 0.81 percent to Rp15,026/US Dollar compared to Friday’s closing on January 13 at Rp15,149/US Dollar.

"The December trade balance data will be published today and is estimated to see a surplus which is still quite high, maybe still above US$ 4 billion," said Senior Economist at Mirae Asset Sekuritas Rully Arya Wisnubroto in Jakarta, on Monday, January 16, Antaranews reported.

Indonesia’s November 2022 trade balance saw a surplus of US$ 5.16 billion with an export value of US$ 24.12 billion and imports of US$ 18.96 billion. This surplus is the 31st consecutive month that the country achieved since May 2020.

Meanwhile, Bank Mandiri Chief Economist Faisal Rachman said the trade balance in December 2022 is expected to be a surplus of US$ 4.76 billion or lower than the surplus of November 2022 at US$ 5.16 billion mainly caused by sluggish export performance due to falling commodity prices and weakening global demand.

Exports are expected to contract by 0.24 percent in December 2022 compared to the previous month. However, on an annual basis, exports still grew by 7.62 percent or strengthened compared to growth in November 2022 which was 5.58 percent.

ANTARA

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