Indonesia’s trade surplus beat forecast in Aug By Reuters

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia booked a bigger-than-expected trade surplus in August as exports and imports beat forecasts, official data showed on Tuesday.

The country reported a surplus of $2.89 billion last month, compared with $1.96 billion expected in a Reuters poll.

Exports in August grew 7.13% on a yearly basis to $23.56 billion, Statistics Indonesia said. The median forecast was for a 3.83% annual rise last month.

Imports were worth $20.67 billion, up 9.46% from a year earlier, compared with the poll’s expectation of an 8.15% rise.

Indonesia is the world’s biggest exporter of thermal coal, palm oil and nickel metals, and a major exporter of several other commodities.

Shipments from the country have risen in annual terms each month since April, recovering after a year where exports values had posted some sharp falls following the peak of a post-pandemic commodity price boom.  

Oil and gas shipments fell, but this was offset by an 8.7% increase in exports of manufactured goods. Also boosting the August figures was a 9.7% annual increase in coal shipments to $2.47 billion.

The August trade data is among economic indicators the central bank will analyse during its two-day policy meeting starting Tuesday. Economists polled by Reuters ahead of the trade data expected Bank Indonesia to leave rates unchanged.