JAKARTA - Indonesia's trade balance surplus rose again in February 2021 after declining in January 2021 compared to the trade balance in December 2020. This was conveyed by Erwin Haryono, Executive Director of the Head of the Communication Department of Bank Indonesia (BI) quoted in a press release Tuesday (16/3) .
He conveyed that the trade surplus in February 2021 was recorded at US$ 2 billion, up from the trade surplus in January 2021 of US$ 1.96 billion. However, the growth in the trade balance surplus is still below the achievement in December 2020 of US$ 2.10 billion. "The surplus is influenced by exports of manufactured products, among others, iron and steel products are growing better," he said.
According to him, the main contributor to the trade surplus came from the non-oil and gas sector, which was recorded at US$ 2.44 billion, while the oil and gas sector was at minus US$ 0.44 billion. This is different in January 2021, because trade in the non-oil and gas sector was recorded at US$ 2.63 billion and oil and gas at minus US$ 0.67 billion.
In December 2020, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded a trade balance for the non-oil and gas sector of US$ 2.56 billion and oil and gas minus US$ 0.46 billion. This achievement was due to the decline in oil and gas imports amid the increase in oil and gas exports. (LK/LM)