Exports increased 5 percebt in May, agency reports

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta

Exports in May increased by 5 percent from April as the improving global economy and weakening rupiah boosted non-oil and gas exports.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported on Thursday that exports during the month rose to US$5.50 billion from $5.21 billion the previous month.

Non-oil and gas exports increased 3.20 percent to $4.15 billion, primarily driven by higher exports of fat oil, home appliances, garments, fish and shrimps, and paper products.

Meanwhile, oil and gas exports jumped by 13.79 percent to $1.34 billion, thanks to soaring oil prices, which during the month stood at an average of $37.53 per barrel, compared to the government's assumption of $22 per barrel for the whole year.

"Despite a slight decline in exports to the U.S. and Japan, overall exports to the nine main destination countries were up by 2.48 percent," BPS chief Soedarti Surbakti said during a press conference.

The country's nine main export destinations are Japan, the U.S., Singapore, China, Malaysia, South Korea, Germany, Taiwan and Australia.

Soedarti attributed the higher exports to the improving global economic situation, which has boosted demand for the country's exports. Analysts have also said that the 10 percent decline in the value of rupiah against the U.S. dollar should help make the country's manufacturing products more competitive on the export market.

May's higher exports represents the third consecutive monthly increase this year.

Soedarti is optimistic that the government's full-year export revenue target of $60 billion will be achieved.

Indonesia needs to boost its export performance if the economy is to grow faster and create enough jobs to provide hope for the country's millions of unemployed. The economy over the past couple of years had been growing at an average rate of 4 percent, mainly driven by domestic consumption as investment and exports remained weak.

At present, exports make up less than 15 percent of the economy, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP).

Meanwhile, exports in the first five months of this year rose by 2.1 percent to $25.71 billion as against $25.16 billion a year earlier.

As for imports, they dropped to $3.22 billion in May from $3.45 billion in April, pushing the trade surplus up to $2.28 billion from $1.76 billion in April.

Meanwhile, oil and gas imports declined by 7.35 percent from $863.8 million in April to $800.3 million, while non-oil and gas imports dropped by 6.63 percent to $2.42 billion from $2.59 billion the previous month.