Indonesia's Q1 Current Account Surplus Narrows to $3 Billion as Exports Slow

CURRENT ACCOUNT - JAKARTA. Indonesia's current account narrowed in the first quarter as its merchandise exports declined amid falling global commodity prices, data from the central bank showed on Tuesday.

The first-quarter current account deficit shrank to $3 billion or 0.9% of gross domestic product, from 1.3% in the previous quarter,

The current account records the flow of goods and services into and out of a country and is part of the balance of payments.

The financial and capital accounts posted a $3.4 billion surplus, a surge from the $300 million surplus in the previous quarter, which Bank Indonesia (BI) attributed to capital inflows into the bond market.

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The balance of payments recorded a higher surplus of $6.5 billion in the first quarter, following a $4.7 billion surplus in the fourth quarter of 2022, BI said.

BI expects the 2023 current account to be within a range of 0.4% of GDP deficit to 0.4% of GDP surplus. The country had a 1% of GDP current account surplus last year.