JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia reported a $2.24 billion trade surplus in December, below expectation, amid a jump in imports and a smaller-than-expected increase in exports, official data showed on Wednesday.
A Reuters poll had expected a surplus of $3.79 billion. November’s surplus was revised down to $4.37 billion.
The data comes as Indonesia’s central bank is meeting to review monetary policy, with the decision to be announced later on Wednesday.
A separate Reuters poll shows analysts expect interest rates to be held steady amid financial market volatility that has weakened the rupiah.
Exports from the resource-rich country rose 4.78% in December from a year earlier to $23.46 billion, compared with a 7.38% increase expected in the trade poll.
Exports of palm oil products jumped 30% on a yearly basis to $1.89 billion last month, but coal exports fell 10.4% to $2.69 billion, the data showed.
Meanwhile, imports climbed 11.07% in December to $21.22 billion, versus the poll’s forecast of a 4.84% rise.
For all of 2024, shipments from Indonesia reached $264.7 billion, up 2.29% from the previous year, while imports were worth $233.66 billion, a rise of 5.31% from 2023.
Last year’s trade surplus was $31.04 billion, down from $36.89 billion in 2023, marking the lowest surplus in four years.
Indonesia’s widest non oil and gas trade surplus was with the United States, amounting to $16.84 billion. It ran a $11.41 billion trade deficit with China, excluding oil and gas trade.
(Reporting by Stefanno Sulaiman, Gayatri Suroyo and Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by John Mair, Martin Petty)
