Indonesia central bank sees current account deficit at 1.6% of GDP in Q1

[JAKARTA] Indonesia's central bank expected the current account deficit to narrow to 1.6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2015, from 2.81 per cent in the last quarter of 2014, said Juda Agung, Bank Indonesia's director for economic and monetary policy.

The outlook improves from previous estimate of near 2 per cent of GDP, due to a larger-than-expected trade surplus in March, Mr Agung added.

Indonesia had a US$1.13 billion trade surplus in March, the biggest monthly surplus since December 2013. The surplus in the first quarter amounted to US$2.43 billion, the biggest in three years.

The central bank sees economic growth at 5 per cent in the first quarter, in line with government's assumption.

REUTERS