Indonesia's trade balance has maintained a surplus for the past seven consecutive months since May 2020, recorded at USD2.61 billion in November 2020. Overall, Indonesia's trade balance from January-November 2020 amassed a USD19.66 billion surplus, improving significantly from a USD3.51 billion deficit in the same period one year earlier. Therefore, Bank Indonesia is confident the trade surplus is contributing favourably to maintain external economic resilience in Indonesia. Moving forward, Bank Indonesia will continue to strengthen policy synergy with the Government and other relevant authorities to reinforce external resilience, including the trade balance outlook.

 The trade surplus posted in November 2020 was influenced by a non-oil and gas trade surplus and narrower oil and gas trade deficit. The non-oil and gas trade surplus stood at USD2.94 billion in the reporting period, thereby maintaining the positive performance achieved one month earlier when a USD4.04 billion surplus was recorded. Such developments were mostly accounted for by increasing non-oil and gas exports, primarily driven by animal/vegetable fats and oils, mineral fuels as well as iron and steel. Meanwhile, non-oil and gas imports also increased in terms of consumer goods, raw materials and capital goods, in response to the gradual recovery of economic activity. Furthermore, the oil and gas trade deficit narrowed from USD465.4 million in October 2020 to USD322.9 million in November 2020 as the increase in oil and gas exports exceeded the corresponding increase in oil and gas imports.