Indonesia posts first quarterly current account deficit in two years

INDONESIA’S current account returned to a deficit for the first time in two years in the second quarter, amounting to 0.5 per cent of GDP, due to falling commodity prices and weak global growth, the central bank said on Tuesday (Aug 22).

The April-June quarter current account deficit of US$1.9 billion came after South-east Asia’s largest economy booked a US$3 billion surplus in the first quarter, which was equivalent to 0.9 per cent of GDP.

Before this, the last time Indonesia had recorded a quarterly current account deficit was in the second quarter of 2021.

The resource rich country had been enjoying an export boom in 2021 and 2022, fuelled by rising global commodity prices due to the lifting of pandemic-era restrictions and the war in Ukraine.

But shipments this year have slowed as prices of its top commodities, including coal and palm oil, plunged.

Bank Indonesia (BI) said the deficit in services trade also widened in the second quarter.

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Indonesia’s balance of payments stood at a US$7.4 billion deficit in the April-June quarter, due to a deficit in the capital and financial accounts, which BI blamed on portfolio outflows related to global market uncertainties.

The country had recorded a surplus of US$6.5 billion in the first quarter.

Separately, BI governor Perry Warjiyo told a seminar Indonesia was expected to run a current account deficit within the range of 0.5 per cent to 1.3 per cent of GDP in 2024, compared with a forecast range of a deficit of 0.4 per cent to a surplus of 0.4 per cent in 2023. REUTERS