Indonesia: Exports and imports plunge in April
Exports declined 7.0% year-on-year in April (March: -0.4% year-on-year; previously reported: -0.2% yoy) on lower energy and non-energy exports. Imports were down 18.6% (March: -0.7% yoy; previously reported: -0.8% yoy). Declines in both exports and imports were likely driven in significant part by Covid-19. As a result, Indonesia recorded a trade deficit of USD 0.3 billion.
Digging deeper into the figures, analysts at Nomura commented: “As we expected, the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak has been stronger since March, suggesting export growth should deteriorate further. By destination, non-O&G exports to the US and Germany fell significantly […]. However, non-O&G export growth to China picked up to 6% y-o-y in April from March’s 0.3%. Indonesia’s non-O&G imports from China also improved slightly to -6% y-o-y in April, after a 7% decline in March, which is also consistent with China’s export rebound in April due to the backlog built up owing to slow business resumption in Q1 and a surge in exports of antivirus medical supplies.”