Indonesia’s trade surplus soars to US$3.56 billion in April, surpassing expectations

[JAKARTA] Indonesia posted a larger-than-estimated trade surplus of US$3.56 billion in April, attributed to slowing imports, according to data from the country’s statistics agency released on Wednesday (May 15).

Economists surveyed by Reuters had expected that Indonesia may generate a surplus of as much as US$3.3 billion. Despite surpassing economists’ projections, April’s surplus fell short of March’s, which amounted to US$4.58 billion.

Pudji Ismartini, deputy head of Statistics Indonesia, said: “The declining surplus is primarily due to the ongoing normalisation of commodity prices and rising global uncertainty impacting global demand and trade activities.”