Imports of capital goods in particular grew rapidly in May, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), most of which were in the form of machinery, vehicles and electronic devices, deputy chairman Ali Rosidi said on Wednesday.
“The machinery, vehicles and electronic devices category was the largest [group of] commodities imported by Indonesia from January to May this year,” said Ali.
Imported capital goods in May reached US$1.69 billion, the largest monthly value this year and growing 26.25 percent compared to April. The figure even represented a 10.87 percent growth from the same period a year earlier.
Cumulatively, capital goods imports for January to June reached $7.3 billion, still a 5.21 percent decline from a year earlier. The decline was moderate compared to the decline in total imports which were valued at $33.65 billion, representing a fall of 36.56 percent.In addition, imports of raw materials also grew in May by 15.97 percent from April, although cumulatively the value of raw materials imports dropped during the January-May period by 42.58 percent from a year earlier.
On exports, May also saw a better performance at least on a monthly basis. Exports in May were valued $9.26 billion, growing by 9.52 percent from April, but still dropping by 26.14 percent from May last year.
From January to May total exports reached $40.74 billion, declining 29.24 percent compared to the same period last year, very slightly lower than the 29.51 percent decline suffered in the previous quarter from January to April.
The main exports during the January-May period included mining commodities, animal/plant oils and fats, as well as machinery.
Exports of mining commodities grew 15.15 percent from January to May compared to the same period last year, against a 29.24 percent drop in total exports. (mrs)