Source: Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia

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Indonesian exports continue to perform positively. In October 2022, exports were recorded at US$24.81 billion, or an increase of 12.3% year-on-year (yoy). 

This increase in exports was driven by key commodities such as palm oil products, mineral fuels, and steel. On a monthly basis (mtm), exports grew by 0.13%, bringing the cumulative January - October 2022 record to $244.14 billion, an increase of 30.97% compared to the same period in 2021. 

"The continuing increase in exports is also supported by demand from trading partner countries with strong economic performances, especially India, which is still having an expansive manufacturing PMI," said the Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency at the Ministry of Finance, Febrio Kacaribu, in a release on Tuesday, November 15. 

Cumulatively, non-oil and gas exports from the January to October 2022 period still recorded a very high growth of 30.61% (ytd). Meanwhile, in the same period, oil and gas exports rose by 37.4% (yoy). From a sectoral perspective, the mining sector recorded the highest growth of 82.68% (yoy), followed by the manufacturing sector, which grew 20.4% (yoy). The agricultural sector grew 14.17% (yoy). 

"That our exports grew in all sectors indicates a continuous broad-based economic recovery, especially in the manufacturing sector, which contributes the most to national exports," added Mr Kacaribu. 

The back-to-back strong exports performance up to October 2022 has led to another surplus in Indonesia's trade balance of $5.67 billion, up from the surplus recorded on September 2022 ($4.97 billion). This achievement further extends the trend of trade balance surpluses to 30 consecutive months. Cumulatively, the trade balance surplus from January to October 2022 has reached $45.52 billion, much higher than the surplus from January to October 2021 ($30.9 billion) and even exceeded the total surplus in 2021 ($35.42 billion). 

In the future, the Indonesian Government will continue to anticipate and mitigate any possible changes in the dynamics of the global economy that could potentially affect Indonesia's exports performance, particularly in response to the slowdown of expansions of the manufacturing sector among several major trading partner countries this October. 

“We are also looking at the increasing risk and uncertainty regarding the prospects of the global economy and the downward trend in commodity prices that follows. Going forward, the Government will continue to encourage various efforts to diversify exports, both in terms of markets and products, as well as in strengthening the downstream strategy, while encouraging optimization in the utilization of various tax and customs facilities such as Bonded Zones and Ease of Imports for Exports Purposes [KB and KITE]," Mr. Kacaribu concluded.