Exports back on track, will meet target: BPS

Dadan Wijaksana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After posting a drop a month earlier, exports bounced back in September to surpass the US$5 billion level, placing Indonesia on track to meet its full-year export target, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) said Monday.

The BPS said exports during the month were valued at $5.05 billion, 1.5 percent higher than the level in August, bringing the total figure from the beginning of the year to $45.72 billion, a 7.5 percent improvement on the same period last year.

The government is aiming for exports of $60 billion in 2003.

"If the current trend continues, and our non-oil and gas exports keep improving in the next three months, we can book around $60.7 billion in total exports by the end of the year," BPS director Rusman Heriawan told a press briefing.

In its monthly report, BPS said the rise in September exports was attributable to a 4.5 percent rise in non-oil and gas exports, which managed to offset a 7.45 percent decline in oil and gas exports.

It should also show that the country's export performance had started to recover from a setback last year, caused mostly by the global economic slowdown and a number of problems at home.

While the world's economy had been suffering from years of recession, Indonesia's exports have also been hampered by problems at home ranging from labor conflict, security problems and inefficiency to the lack of financing facilities.

Export performance -- while only contributing less than 10 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) -- remains a key factor to measure the pace of the country's economic recovery.

The BPS said the stronger export performance, coupled with imports which rose to $2.79 billion in September from $2.71 billion in August, pushed the trade surplus slightly higher to $2.26 billion in September from $2.25 billion in August.

Non-oil and gas exports in the first nine months were $35.33 billion compared to $33.83 billion posted at the same period last year, which contributed to the total exports in the nine months to September at $45.71 billion, up against $42.53 billion a year earlier.

Imports in the first nine months rose to $24.14 billion from $22.28 billion a year earlier, with non-oil and gas imports rising to $18.47 billion from $17.70 billion.

Up to September, the U.S. economy remained the country's largest export destination this year, with non-oil and gas exports reaching $5.30 billion, as compared to $5.55 billion a year earlier.

Trailing closely in second and third place were Japan and Singapore. While exports to Japan rose to $5 billion in the period from $4.66 billion in 2002, exports to Singapore were almost the same than that of the year before at $3.56 billion.