Indonesia’s trade deficit reached US$2.05 billion in November, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) announced on Monday.
The figure is higher than the $2.03 billion recorded in July, which was then the highest deficit in the last five years.
The increase was triggered by a $1.46 billion monthly deficit in oil and gas trade despite declining oil prices, both in international indexes and the Indonesia Crude Price (ICP), which set the oil price at $62.98 per barrel in November from $77.56 per barrel the month before.
Month-to-month (mtm) imports decreased 4.47 percent to $16.88 billion, while mtm exports declined 6.7 percent to $14.83 billion, thanks to a 10.8 percent mtm decrease in oil and gas exports to $1.37 billion.
The results have brought the year-to-date trade balance to minus $7.52 billion, with surpluses recorded only in March, June and September.
“As always, we are hoping that the policies established by the government could be implemented faster so as to see faster results,” BPS head Suhariyanto said at a press briefing.
