Indonesia posted a preliminary trade surplus of $4.9 billion in May, marking its largest monthly surplus in over two years, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati announced Tuesday. This surplus comes as exports reached $25.3 billion, while imports totaled $20.4 billion.
Final trade data will be released by Statistics Indonesia on July 1. If confirmed, the May surplus would be the biggest since February 2023, according to LSEG data. In comparison, April’s surplus was only $160 million.
The finance minister noted that despite the strong trade figures, ongoing global trade tensions and slower economic growth worldwide have impacted exports. These factors are expected to influence Indonesia’s economic growth, the largest in Southeast Asia.
Exports of agricultural products and manufactured goods grew robustly in May. However, shipments of mining products fell sharply, which negatively affected government revenue.
On the fiscal side, Indonesia recorded a budget deficit of 21 trillion rupiah ($1.29 billion) in the first five months of 2025. This deficit represents 0.09% of the country’s GDP. During this period, government revenues totaled 995.3 trillion rupiah, while spending reached 1,016.3 trillion rupiah.
For comparison, in the same period last year, the deficit was slightly higher at 0.1% of GDP, with revenues of 1,123.5 trillion rupiah and spending of 1,145.3 trillion rupiah.
Exchange rate used: $1 = 16,275 rupiah
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