August Trade Balance Recorded a Surplus of USD 2.33 billion

JAKARTA. Statistics Indonesia (BPS) recorded Indonesia's trade balance in August 2020 amounting to USD 2.33 billion.  Meanwhile, the cumulative trade balance for January-August 2020 was USD 11.05 billion.

Head of BPS Suhariyanto said the surplus that occurred in August 2020 was higher than the surplus in the same period of 2019, which amounted to USD 92.6 million.

Despite the surplus, the trade balance in August remained a negative sentiment because in terms of exports experienced negative growth and on the import side on a monthly basis grew positively but on an annual or year-on-year basis (yoy) still recorded negative growth. 

For exports in August, it was recorded at USD 13.07 billion, down 4.62% compared to exports in July 2020 and compared to August 2019, it decreased by 8.36%. Meanwhile, imports in August were recorded at USD 10.74 billion, up 2.65% compared to July 2020, but down 24.19% compared to August 2019.

When viewed by type of goods, exports that experienced the lowest decline were footwear with negative growth of 17.01%, precious metals, jewelry / gems -16.62%, mineral fuels -11.53% and animal fats and oils grew negatively 9.55%.

Meanwhile, on the import side, the highest decline occurred in the category of ship, boat and floating structure goods which grew -40.96% from July, vegetables grew -39.23%, sugar and confectionery -24.29%, goods  from iron and steel -17.78% and machinery and mechanical equipment -1.71%.

The decrease in exports in August 2020 compared to July 2020 was due to a decrease in non-oil and gas exports of 4.35% and oil and gas exports of 9.94%. While the increase in imports in August compared to July 2020 was due to a 3.01% increase in non-oil and gas imports and on the other hand oil and gas imports decreased by 0.88%