The central bank (Bank Indonesia) announced on Friday (15/05) that Indonesia’s current account deficit narrowed to USD $3.8 billion, or, 1.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2015. Although this result is slightly higher than Bank Indonesia’s estimation (1.6 percent of GDP), it was lower than the current account deficits in Q4-2014 (2.6 percent of GDP) or Q1-2014 (1.9 percent). This positive performance was mainly caused by a narrowing deficit in the country’s oil & gas trade balance.

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Pertumbuhan ekonomi Indonesia di Q1-2015 dicatat 4,71% pada basis year-on-year (y/y). Meskipun telah diprediksi bahwa angka pertumbuhan produk domestik bruto (PDB) Indonesia akan jatuh di bawah batas 5%, perlambatan ini lebih buruk dari dugaan awal. Suryamin, Kepala Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS), menyatakan pada awal hari ini (05/05) bahwa pertumbuhan ekonomi Indonesia melambat mencapai level terendah selama lima tahun akibat lemahnya ekspor (hasil dari berkurangnya pertumbuhan ekonomi di pasar ekspor) dan rendahnya harga minyak mentah dunia.

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Pada Mei 2015 Pemerintah Indonesia akan menawarkan keringanan pajak pada perusahaan-perusahaan yang mengekspor minimal 30% dari produksi mereka. Pada awal bulan ini, Presiden Indonesia Joko Widodo menandatangani sebuah paket kebijakan yang mencakup keringanan pajak untuk para eksportir dan juga keringanan pajak untuk perusahaan-perusahaan multinational yang bersedia mereinvestasi keuntungan di Indonesia daripada mengirimkan keuntungan dan dividen kepada para pemegang saham di luar negeri. Paket ini didesain untuk memperbaiki neraca perdagangan Indonesia (dan neraca transaksi berjalan).

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The central bank of Indonesia (Bank Indonesia) expects that the country’s current account deficit has eased to 1.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2015. This estimate is lower than the institution’s initial forecast of 2 percent of GDP. Main reason for this more optimistic view is that Indonesia experienced a USD $2.43 billion trade surplus in the first quarter of 2015. Particularly the unexpectedly-wide USD $1.13 billion trade surplus in March will manage to ease pressures on the country’s current account.

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Over the past two days the Indonesian rupiah has performed strongly against the US dollar. The primary reason for this performance is Indonesia’s March trade surplus. On Wednesday (15/04), Statistics Indonesia announced that the country’s March trade surplus totaled USD $1.13 billion. This is Indonesia’s fourth straight monthly trade surplus and the highest one since December 2013. Moreover, the USD $1.13 billion March surplus was nearly twice the size that analysts had forecast previously.

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Statistics Indonesia (BPS) announced on Wednesday (15/04) that Indonesia posted a USD $1.13 billion trade surplus in March 2015, the country’s fourth straight monthly trade surplus, and almost twice the size that analysts had forecast earlier. Despite the monthly trade surplus being good news, data also showed that both Indonesian exports and imports contracted. Exports were down 9.8 percent (y/y) to USD $13.71 billion in March, while imports fell 13.4 percent (y/y) to USD $12.58 billion.

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Di dalam Update Perekonomian Asia Timur dan Pasifik dari Bank Dunia, dirilis hari Senin (13/04), institusi yang bermarkas di Washington ini merevisi turun proyeksi pertumbuhan ekonomi Indonesia menjadi 5,2% pada basis year-on-year (y/y) di 2015, menurun dari 5,6% di Update Bank Dunia sebelumnya. Penyebab utama penurunan proyeksi ini adalah performa ekspor Indonesia yang tetap lemah karena lambatnya perekonomian dunia, termasuk lemahnya permintaan dari Republik Rakyat Tionghoa (mitra dagang terbesar Indonesia). Sementara itu, konsumsi domestik Indonesia dibatasi tingkat suku bunga yang tinggi.

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Karena ketidakjelasan menenai kewajiban letters of credit (L/C) yang baru ditetapkan, Pemerintah Indonesia telah memutuskan untuk bersikap fleksibel. Dimulai dari hari Rabu (01/04) para eksportir Indonesia dari empat komoditi kunci - batubara, minyak (inti) kelapa sawit, minyak & gas, dan bahan-bahan mineral - diharuskan menggunakan L/C untuk semua perjanjian ekspor. Kebijakan baru ini dibuat untuk meningkatkan pemasukan ekspor Indonesia dan meningkatkan pengawasan penjualan sumberdaya alam Indonesia. Kendati begitu, pengecualian sementara kini dimungkinkan terjadi.

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This week L’Oreal Indonesia opened its new factory in Cikarang (West Java), while Mitsubishi Motors Krama Yudha Indonesia started construction of a new car manufacturing plant, in Cikarang as well. Both factories will produce products for the Indonesian market and the regional ASEAN market as well as non-ASEAN markets. The Indonesian government will be pleased to see these investment commitments as it is eager to increase exports from Southeast Asia’s largest economy in order to curb the wide current account deficit.

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Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS) mengumumkan pada hari Senin (16/03) bahwa Indonesia membukukan surplus perdagangan sebesar 738,3 juta dollar Amerika Serikat (AS) pada Februari 2015. Surplus perdagangan telah terjadi selama tiga bulan berturut-turut dan lebih besar dari prediksi bank sentral Indonesia (bank Indonesia) dan hasil polling Reuters yang memperkirakan bahwa suplus akan berada di kisaran 500-520 juta dollar AS. Surplus ini juga lebih besar dari surplus perdagangan di bulan pertama 2015 yang mencapai 709,4 juta dollar AS. Surplus di Februari terjadi terutama karena penurunan impor.

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The current account deficit of Indonesia eased to USD $6.84 billion, or 3.07 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter of 2014 (down from USD $8.69 billion, or 4.07 percent of GDP in the previous quarter). This improvement was mainly supported by a solid surplus in the country’s non-oil & gas sector, partly the result of the US economic recovery as well as resumed copper concentrate exports by Freeport Indonesia and Newmont Nusa Tenggara (after successful mining contract renegotiations).

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The wide current account deficit of Indonesia is expected to have eased in the third quarter of 2014. According to information from the country’s central bank, the current account deficit narrowed to 3.1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in Q3-2014 from 4.27 percent of GDP in the previous quarter. A deficit below the level of 3 percent of GDP is generally regarded as a sustainable level. The improvement in Q3-2014 is mainly due to resumed mineral exports after the government and several miners managed to finalize renegotiations.

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Bank Indonesia decided to hold the key interest rate (BI rate) at 7.50 percent in October, with the Lending Facility and Deposit Facility rates kept at 7.50 percent and 5.75 percent, respectively. This level is expected to help control inflation at 4.5±1 percent in 2014 and 4.0±1 percent in 2015, as well as to reduce the current account deficit to a more sustainable level. Despite stable domestic conditions, Bank Indonesia sees risks: contagion risk stemming from US monetary tightening and possible higher subsidized fuel prices.

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The central bank of Indonesia (Bank Indonesia) released a press statement on Wednesday evening (01/10) in which it set out its view on the country’s trade balance and inflation after the latest economic data had been released by Statistics Indonesia (abbreviated BPS) earlier on the day. Based on information of BPS, Indonesia’s September inflation was relatively low at 0.27 percent month-to-month (m/m), while the August trade balance swung back into a deficit at USD $318.1 million.

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Pemerintah mengakui sulit mengejar target pertumbuhan yang ditetapkan dalam APBN-P 2014 yakni sebesar 5.5 persen. Wakil Menteri Keuangan Bambang Brodjonegoro bahkan memperkirakan Indonesia harus bekerja keras mengejar pertumbuhan di level 5.3 persen. “Kita mencoba realistis. Mudah-mudahan di semester II bisa memperbaiki jadi sedikit bisa ke 5.3 persen. Outlook range kami di 5.2-5.3 persen,” tutur Bambang, pekan ini.

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Governor of the central bank of Indonesia (Bank Indonesia), Agus Martowardojo, commented on Indonesia’s troubled current account balance on Tuesday (12/08). Martowardojo said that he expects the balance to improve in 2014. Last year, the current account deficit of Southeast Asia’s largest economy reached 3.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP); a level which is generally regarded as unsustainable. This year, the deficit may ease to 3 percent of GDP. For investors the current account balance is an important matter. Why?

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Indonesia’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the first half of 2014 reached 5.17 percent (year-on-year), thus continuing the slowing growth trend that has been recorded by the country since 2011. Forecasts for GDP growth in the second half of 2014 indicate a slight improvement (to the range of 5.2 to 5.3 percent year-on-year) supported by strong household consumption, increased government spending and further growth of the trade and services sector. However, in recent quarters the official GDP figure has been lower than most forecasts.

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Statistics Indonesia (BPS) announced on Tuesday (05/08) that Indonesia’s economy grew 5.12 percent in the second quarter of 2014 from the same quarter last year. This means that gross domestic product (GDP) growth of Indonesia has continued the slowing trend it has been experiencing since 2011. The 5.12 percentage point GDP growth in Q2-2014 is the slowest growth pace that has been recorded by Southeast Asia’s largest economy since the fourth quarter of 2009. What explains this slowing economic growth of Indonesia?

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According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the country’s trade balance in June 2014 recorded a deficit of USD $0.30 billion after the USD $0.05 billion surplus in the previous month. The performance of Indonesia’s trade balance was influenced by shrinkage of the country’s non-oil & gas surplus amid a lower oil & gas deficit compared to May 2014. Meanwhile, inflation was up 0.93 percent (month-to-month) in July 2014; a good performance amid the Ramadan and Idul Fitri festivities. Annual inflation eased to 4.53 percent (year-on-year).

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ICRA Indonesia, an independent credit rating agency and subsidiary of ICRA Ltd. (associate of Moody's Investors Service), publishes a monthly newsletter which provides an update on the financial and economic developments in Indonesia of the last month. In the June 2014 edition, a number of important topics that are monitored include Indonesia's inflation rate, the trade balance, the BI rate, the IDR rupiah exchange rate, and gross domestic product (GDP) growth. Below is an excerpt of the newsletter:

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