JAKARTA: Indonesia’s trade surplus in May narrowed to the smallest in three years amid surging imports, data by the statistics bureau showed on Thursday.
The resource-rich country last year saw exports jump to a historic high on rising global commodity prices.
The prices of commodities such as coal and palm oil have since eased, prompting policymakers and economists to predict trade surplus in Southeast Asia’s largest economy to shrink and economic growth to slow this year.
In May, Indonesia reported a surplus of about $440 million, the smallest since April 2020, significantly less than the $3.02 billion surplus economists had expected in a Reuters poll and a $3.94 billion surplus recorded in April.
Imports last month were worth $21.28 billion, up 14.35 per cent on a yearly basis. The poll had predicted an 11 per cent yearly drop.
There was an over 60 per cent annual increase in imports of capital goods in May.
Indonesia exported $21.72 billion worth of goods in May, up 0.96 per cent on a yearly basis from the same month a year earlier, compared with a 8.7 per cent annual drop economists in the poll had expected.
