The Indonesian Central Statistics Agency (BPS) has reported a trade surplus of USD 2.91 billion for March 2023. The surplus was achieved after Indonesia's imports were recorded at USD 23.50 billion, which was lower than the country's exports of USD 20.59 billion. However, the trade surplus is expected to shrink in March 2023 due to the slowing down of exports and increasing imports ahead of the Lebaran holiday. The trade surplus is lower than the market consensus gathered by CNBC Indonesia's research team from 14 institutions, which had estimated a trade surplus of USD 4.19 billion for March 2023.
The trade surplus in March 2023 is also lower than February 2023, which had a surplus of USD 5.48 billion. If Indonesia manages to record another surplus, it will mark the 35th consecutive month of surplus. The consensus also predicts that exports will contract by 7.4% year on year (yoy) while imports will decline by 9.5%. It is worth noting that in February 2023, exports increased by 4.51% (yoy) while imports declined by 4.32% (yoy).
