JAKARTA: The Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, Indonesia, has reported a higher-than-expected trade surplus in January
Indonesian exports slide 8.09 percent on-year to $13.30 billion and imports sank 15.59 percent to $12.59 billion. “The drop was due to the sharp fall of the (global) oil prices,” Statistics Agency chief Suryamin, who goes by one name, said.
Indonesia’s economy expanded 5.0 percent last year, a sharp slowdown from the 5.8 percent growth recorded in 2013 and the weakest pace since 2009.
The growth figures underline the challenge for Indonesia’s new President Joko Widodo, who despite a promising first few months in office faces many economic hurdles, analysts said.
Widodo, who won office partly on a pledge to revive the slowing economy, has promised to woo investors by cutting red tape and ploughing money into overhauling the country’s ageing infrastructure.
