Indonesia posts US$1.14b trade surplus in Feb, bigger than expected

[JAKARTA] Indonesia had a bigger-than-expected trade surplus in February as exports contracted at the slowest rate since October 2014, the statistics bureau said on Tuesday.

Data showed that Southeast Asia's largest economy had a US$1.14 billion trade surplus, compared to a revised US$10 million in January and a median forecast in a Reuters survey of an US$80 million surplus.

Exports fell 7.18 per cent in February from a year ago, better than the 14.70 per cent plunge expected in the survey, to US$11.30 billion.

Meanwhile imports declined 11.71 per cent on a yearly basis in February to US$10.16 billion, a bigger drop than expected.

REUTERS