JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s trade balance slipped into deficit in April after two straight months of surpluses, as exports and imports continued to shrink as the coronavirus crisis disrupts global trade, data from the statistics bureau showed on Friday.
Southeast Asia’s largest economy had a $350 million trade deficit in April, according to the data, larger than the $200 million gap expected in a Reuters poll.
April exports dropped 7.02% on-year to $12.19 billion, the sharpest fall in eight months and compared with the 2.70% expected in the poll, which the statistics bureau blamed on falling commodity prices and weak global demand.
Imports also dropped sharply by 18.58% to $12.54 billion, the biggest fall since October 2015, versus the poll’s projected 12.73% plunge.
(Reporting by Fransiska Nangoy, Tabita Diela and Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
