TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said she was keeping a close watch on the developments of the country’s balance of payments, particularly those related to the current account deficit—among them the exports in August 2018.
“The export growth was nearing 5 percent year-on-year. But I think we can still step that up,” Sri Mulyani said at the parliamentary complex in Jakarta on Monday, September 17, 2018.
According to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the country’s exports in August 2018 reached USD15.82 billion, or down by 2.9 percent from those of July 2018, but a 4.15 percent increase from August 2017.
Read: Import Determines Economic Growth, Sri Mulyani Says
Sri Mulyani also explained imports had significantly dwindled from the previous month. Indonesia’s imports in August 2018 amounted to USD16.84 billion, tumbling by USD1.457 billion or 7.97 percent from July 2018.
“It is a negative growth from month-to-month, but from year-on-year it was still considerably high,” Sri Mulyani said.
Based on the export-import figures, Indonesia still went through a trade deficit in August 2018 with USD1.02 billion, slipping by virtually half from USD2.01 billion in July 2018.
The trade deficit ensued from the deficit in the oil and gas sector with USD1.66 billion, while the non-oil and gas sector saw a surplus of USD0.64 billion.
CAESAR AKBAR
