Stefani Ribka, Jakarta – Indonesia booked a US$670 million trade deficit in January, an unusual situation in the past three years, where January has usually seen trade surpluses, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) announced on Thursday.
BPS head Suhariyanto said the deficit was due to a significant import surge by 26.44 percent year on year (yoy) to $15.13 billion and moderate export growth of 7.86 percent yoy to $14.46 billion. "The import surge mostly occurred for vehicles [helicopters] and their components," he said.
All import types surged sharply – consumer goods, dominated by garlic, fresh apples, grapes and frozen meat, up by 32.98 percent; materials, mostly airplane and helicopter components, printed circuit boards and other electronic integrated circuits, up by 24.76 percent; capital goods, helicopters, floating machinery and other machinery, up by 30.9 percent.
Exports of oil and gas, meanwhile, were only up by 1.11 percent; agricultural products were down by 8.27 percent and processed goods up by 6.85 percent.
"Most of our exports still go to China, the United States and Japan, meaning we're still highly dependent on these three markets so we need to diversify," said Suhariyanto. (bbn)