Indonesia Posts Larger than Expected Trade Surplus in March

TRADE BALANCE - JAKARTA. Indonesia reported a $4.47 billion trade surplus in March, data from the statistics bureau showed on Monday, larger than a forecast surplus of $1.13 billion in a Reuters poll as imports fell more than expected.

The surplus was also larger than February's surplus of around $870 million, which was the smallestin nine months.

Exports dropped 4.19% to $22.43 billion year-on-year in March, while imports dropped 12.76% to $17.96 billion. A Reuters poll had expected a 9.03% contraction in exports last month and 1.57% decline in imports.

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Smaller purchases of machinery and electronic products contributed to the drop in imports, while the decline in exports was mostly due to the value of mining commodity shipments, said Statistic Indonesia's chief Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti.