Indonesia’s exports and imports logged sharp decline in December, data published by Statistics Indonesia showed Friday.
Exports plunged 17.66 percent year-on-year in December, but slower than a 19 percent decline forecast by economists.
Likewise, imports decreased 16.02 percent compared to an expected decline of 19.4 percent.
On a monthly basis, exports grew 6.98 percent to $11.89 billion and imports advanced 5.23 percent to $12.12 billion in December.
Consequently, the trade balance revealed a shortfall of $230 million, confounding expectations for a surplus of $100 million. The balance remained negative for the second consecutive month.
Nonetheless, the trade balance returned to surplus in the whole year of 2015. The surplus came in at $7.51 billion versus a deficit of $2.2 billion in 2014.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com