Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency (BKF) of the Ministry of Finance Febrio Kacaribu stated that Indonesia’s trade balance in September 2022 had recorded a surplus of up to US$4.99 billion amid global risk awareness.
Cumulatively, Indonesia’s trade balance surplus from January to September 2022 had reached US$39.87 billion, which was much higher than the peak of the commodity period in 2011 when it amounted to US$22.2 billion.
“This achievement also indicates a surplus that has occurred for 29 consecutive months,” Kacaribu stated.
On a quarterly basis, net export performance was also quite good, so it became one of the driving factors for GDP growth in the third quarter of the current year and 2022 as a whole.
The surplus occurred, as Indonesia’s exports in September 2022 had a positive performance of US$24.80 billion, or grew by 20.28 percent (yoy), driven by oil and gas and non-oil exports, with the growth of 41.8 percent (yoy) and 19.26 percent (yoy) respectively.
Despite monthly slowdown due to declining prices and volume of leading commodities, total exports increased during the January-September 2022 period, reaching US$219.35 billion, or an increase of US$55 billion as compared to US$164.32 billion recorded during the same period in 2021.
Kacaribu said the cumulative increase in exports shows that global demand is still strong in line with better pandemic control, such as from India, Japan, and South Korea.
The increase in exports from January to September 2022 was driven by oil and gas exports which were still growing at 38.56 percent, while non-oil and gas exports grew at 33.21 percent.
In the meanwhile, the mining sector recorded the highest growth, reaching 91.98 percent, followed by the manufacturing sector which grew 22.23 percent in line with the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) of Indonesian manufacturing that grew in the expansion zone.
Moreover, Indonesia’s imports recorded a positive performance reaching US$19.81 billion, with a growth of 22.01 percent, although it was relatively slow as compared to the previous month.
The growth in imports was supported by the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) of Indonesian manufacturing in September 2022 that continued to expand, oil and gas imports that increased by 83.53 percent (yoy), as well as non-oil and gas imports that grew 14.02 percent (yoy).
From January to September 2022, Indonesia’s total imports reached US$179.49 billion and in terms of usage, imports of raw materials and capital goods grew high, 23.21 percent (yoy) and 41.13 percent (yoy) respectively.
With regard to imports of consumer goods, although it decreased on an annual basis by 11.17 percent due to price hikes, cumulatively from January to September, it still grew by 3.52 percent.
“The strengthening of public consumption activities will continue to be maintained through state budget (APBN) instruments by maintaining the people’s purchasing power through price stabilization policies, social protection, and others,” Kacaribu remarked.
