JAKARTA, Sept 16 (NNN-ANTARA) – Indonesia recorded a deep export decline of 21.21 percent, year on year, to 22.00 billion U.S. dollars in Aug, according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), yesterday.
Exports of leading commodities, such as, coal, contracted 48.91 percent year on year, and palm oil minus 35.23 percent, as did iron and steel, although they only fell 0.96 percent.
“Cumulatively, the value of Indonesia’s exports from Jan to Aug, reached 171.52 billion U.S. dollars or a decrease of 11.85 percent, compared to the same period last year,” said acting head of BPS, Amalia Widyasanti, at a press conference.
Primarily, non-oil and gas export destinations in Aug were China, the United States, and India, with the contribution of the three reaching 45.20 percent of the total.
Meanwhile, the value of imports in Aug, was recorded at 18.88 billion U.S. dollars, down 14.77 percent compared to the same month last year.
Due to all these developments, Indonesia recorded a trade balance of 3.12 billion U.S. dollars that month, its 40th consecutive month of surplus.– NNN-ANTARA
