Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's trade balance in January 2020 witnessed a deficit of US$864 million, with an export value totaling $13.41 billion and imports of $14.28 billion, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS).
"The trade balance deficit was triggered by the oil and gas sector that experienced a deficit of US$1.18 billion, although the non-oil and gas sector had registered a surplus of $0.32 billion," BPS Head Suhariyanto noted here on Monday.
The January 2020 deficit was lesser than the $1.06 billion recorded in January 2019.
Indonesia's exports were valued at $13.41 billion in 2020, a drop of 7.16 percent than the exports in December 2019. Likewise, in comparison with January 2019, the figure went down 3.71 percent.
The decline in exports in January 2020 from December 2019 was attributed to oil and gas exports, down at 28.73 percent, from $1.13 billion to $805.9 million, as well as non-oil and gas exports that plunged 5.33 percent, from $13.3 billion to $12.6 billion.
The decline in oil and gas exports was caused by a 3.45-percent drop in oil exports to $168.9 million and crude oil exports plunging 83.29 percent to $32.9 million, as well as gas exports falling 20.41 percent to $604.1 million.
In the meantime, the value of Indonesian imports in January 2020 had reached $14.28 billion, down 1.60 percent as compared to December 2019. The figure fell 4.78 percent in comparison to January 2019.
This was caused by a decline in the value of oil and gas and non-oil and gas imports by $146.1 million, or 6.85 percent, and $85.5 million, or 0.69 percent respectively.
The drop in oil and gas imports was caused by a decline in the value of crude oil imports of $185.3 million, or 26.50 percent, and oil yields of $124.5 million, or 10.13 percent. The value of gas imports, however, rose $163.7 million, or 79.68 percent.
"Of course, we are optimistic of a smooth implementation of Biodiesel 30 (B30), so that the trade balance will improve," Suhariyanto added.
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