Jakarta - Indonesia enjoyed another surplus in its trade with other countries in September with its exports reaching US$15.9 billion and imports US$15.35 billion, statistics agency chief said.
"Indonesia enjoyed another surplus in September 2012 after the one in August reaching US$248 million," Suryamin, the chief of the National Statistics Agency (BPS), said here on Thursday.
He said the surplus trend had been seen for the past few months reaching in accumulation from January to September this year to US$1.03 billion with imports recorded at US$141.97 billion and exports at US$143 billion.
"Several commodities that have boosted total export value to a surplus to Indonesia are palm oil, mineral fuels, fat and vegetable oil," he said adding Indonesia has also been able to suppress imports.
Suryamin said that although Indonesia had been able to record a surplus in its trade with several countries its trade with traditional partners had shown a deficit.
In September the country's trade with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) suffered a deficit of US$790.5 million, he said.
He said the biggest deficit was recorded in its trade with Thailand at US$4.5 billion, followed by Malaysia at US$1.7 billion.
The deficit in its trade with three big countries namely the US, China and Japan meanwhile reached US$4.4 billion.
"To offset the deficit in its trade with the three countries Indonesia must continue to seek breakthroughs, increase competitiveness of its products and reduce imports of particularly consumer goods," he said.
He said bigger imports of capital goods would be no problem as they would boost manufacturing but it would be worrisome if imports of consumer goods would remain big. (*)
COPYRIGHT © ANTARA News Jawa Timur 2012
COPYRIGHT © ANTARA News Jawa Timur 2012