Indonesia maintains trade surplus for 31st month in a row
Indonesia's trade balance recorded the 31st consecutive month surplus, reaching 5.16 billion USD as of November 30, reported the Statistics Indonesia on December 16.
Workers carry out loading and unloading activities at Pelindo Port II, Tanjung Priok, Jakarta, on November 15. (Photo: Antara)
Jakarta (VNA) - Indonesia's trade balance recordedthe 31st consecutive month surplus, reaching 5.16 billion USD as ofNovember 30, reported the Statistics Indonesia on December 16.
In the past 11 months, Indonesia experienced atrade surplus of 50.59 billion USD, higher from 34.3 billion USD reached in thesame period last year.
Head of the Fiscal Policy Board of the FinanceMinistry Febrio Kacaribu said Indonesia's exports continued positiveperformance in November to reach 24.12 billion USD, up 5.58 percentyear-on-year and 28.16 percent year-to-date.
Non-oil/non-gas exports reached 22.99 billion USDin November, up 6.88 percent annually but down 1.94 percent month on month.
He added that Non-oil/non-gas exports contributed the most,reaching 253.61 billion USD, up 28.04% year-to-date.
💯 On a sectoral basis, 74.15 percent of the exports in the January–Novemberperiod were contributed by the mining industry, followed by the manufacturingindustry (18.59%) and the fishery industry (12.44%)./.
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