Thursday, 18 April 2019 09:07

Indonesian exports fall for fifth consecutive month

Indonesian exports continued their slide in March, as persistent trade tensions and the global economic slowdown weighed on the country’s trade performance.  Outbound shipments fell 10 per cent year on year to $14.09bn in March, according to Statistics Indonesia, against a Reuters poll expecting a slightly steeper 11.8 per cent drop. Exports have now declined for five months in a row.  
Imports declined more than expected, by 6.8 per cent to $13.49bn versus analyst expectations of a 3.8 per cent fall. This resulted in a surplus of $540m, edging above the surprise $330m surplus hit in February. Excluding oil and gas, Hong Kong was both the biggest source of imports, and the largest recipient of outbound shipments.  The trade surplus is expected to support the Indonesian rupiah, which fell to 20-year lows at the end of last year.
"The current account deficit, which widened sharply in 2018 was one of the key reasons for rupiah weakness and this forced Bank Indonesia for an aggressive rate hike by total 175 bps," analysts at ING said. "The rupiah should benefit from narrower current account deficit this year."
Indonesian voters will head to the polls on Wednesday in the world’s largest single-day election. Incumbent Joko Widodo, who is seeking re-election, is seen by analysts as being stronger on economic issues than his rival, Prabowo Subianto. Mr Widodo said last month in an interview with the Financial Times that his two key concerns were “to push our exports and then also attract foreign investors to Indonesia”.


Source: https://www.ft.com/content/13f83522-5f34-11e9-b285-3acd5d43599e

 

 

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