Monday, October 6, 2008
RI Enjoys Trade Balance Surplus of US$635 Million in August
Source: Antara News

Jakarta, (ANTARA News) - Indonesia enjoyed a surplus of around UD$635 million in its trade balance in August although the value of its exports in the month dropped 0.43 percent, and it suffered a deficit in July.

"There was a surplus of US$635 million in August," deputy for distribution and service statistics of the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), Ali Rosidi, said here on Monday.

He said the value of the country’s exports in August reached US$12.50 billion and the value of its imports US$11.86 billion or down by 7.43 percent compared to the previous month.

In July, Indonesia suffered a deficit of US$270 million with its exports reaching US$12.55 million and imports US$12.82 million.

"July’s exports were lower than imports causing the deficit. Cumulatively, however, total exports from January to August were higher than imports," he said.

Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said she remained optimistic the target of non-oil/gas exports this year set at 12.5 percent would be achieved in spite of fears that exports might weaken in the next three months` time due to the world’s flagging economy as a result of the financial crisis in the US.

"I think we may still be quite optimistic that the target will be achieved as our non-oil/non-gas export performance so far has been good. However, we are still calculating. It is in fact predicted, the impact of the US crisis will start to be felt in the next three months," she said.

The BPS said Indonesia’s total exports in August were down 0.43 percent from US$12.6 billion to US$12.5 billion after non-oil/non- gas exports dropped from US$9.7 billion to US$9.5 billion.

Oil and gas exports in the month however rose 1.18 percent to US$2.9 billion, driven by an increase of 0.81 percent in the export of oil to US$385.1 million and a hike by 9.97 percent in gas exports to US$1.4 billion.

Exports of crude oil, however, dropped 5.17 percent to US$1.2 billion as a consequence of a decrease in the price of Indonesian crude from US$134.96 per barrel in July to US$115.56 per barrel in August.

In terms of volume, Indonesia’s total exports from January to August 2008 reached US$95.45 billion, up 29.87 percent compared to the same period last year while its non-oil/non-gas exports reached US$73.54 billion or up by 22.38 percent.(*)