Indonesia's trade performance was back to a surplus in May as the plunge of imports exceeded the decline in exports when the novel coronavirus pandemic has depressed demands and weakened economic activities.
The National Agency of Statistics has announced that Indonesia's trade balance swung to a 2.09 billion US dollar surplus in May from a 350 million US dollar deficit in April, reports Xinhua.
Imports plunged by 42.2 per cent to $8.44 billion in May annualised, and exports tumbled by 28.95 per cent to $10.53 billion in the month on the yearly basis, Head of the National Agency of Statistics Kecuk Suhariyanto noted on Monday.
"The surplus occurred amid falling exports and plunging imports," he said.
Imports of capital goods drifted down to $1.39 billion in May from $2.32 billion in the same period last year, and the shipments of raw materials from abroad edged down to $6.11 billion in May from $10.73 billion in the same period last year, Suhariyanto added.
The global economic fallout from the virus pandemic has depressed demands and cut prices of commodities.
The partial lockdown along with the physical distancing has cast millions of people cooped up for months and restricted their mobility, disrupting chain supplies of goods which nearly paralysed the economy.
