BI Believes Trade Surplus to Reduce Current Account Deficit

Jakarta (Antara) - Bank Indonesia (BI) believes the country's trade surplus which hit a three-year high of US$1.52 billion in December 2013 will help reduce the current account deficit in the fourth quarter of last year. "We believe the very good trade balance will help improve the current account deficit," executive director of Bank Indonesia's statistics department, Hendy Sulistyowati said at a discussion with journalists here on Tuesday. According to the National Statistics Agency (BPS), Indonesia enjoyed a trade surplus of US$1.52 billion in December 2013 with exports increasing to US$16.98 billion and imports falling to US$15.46 billion. "This surplus is the highest in the past three years after the one recorded at US$602.6 million in December in 2011," BPS chief Suryamin stated here, on Monday. He added that the trade surplus was attributed to a trade surplus of US$2.34 billion in the non-oil/gas sector while trade in the oil/gas sector suffered a deficit of US$0.82 billion. The December 2013 trade surplus almost doubled from US$0.79 billion in the previous month. It is also higher than Bank Indonesia's initial forecast of US$0.79 billion. "The trade surplus will have a significant impact on the current account deficit in the fourth quarter of 2013," she said. Hendy also predicted the country's exports would improve along with economic recovery in export destination countries. Earlier, BI forecast the 2013 current account deficit would stay below 3.5 percent of the gross domestic product or US$30 billion compared with US$24 billion in 2012. (*)