S'pore RI's third partner

S'pore RI's third partner

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore has become Indonesia's third largest trading partner, after two-way trade surged past US$6 billion in 1994, the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce said yesterday.

Indonesia had a surplus of $2.27 billion, up sharply from the previous year's $1.58 billion. Total bilateral trade in 1994 was $6.026 billion, up 16.7 percent over the previous year.

Indonesia's top trading partners are Japan, with bilateral trade totaling $18.66 billion, and the United States, at $9.4 billion, a report from the chamber said. South Korea and Germany followed Singapore.

The biggest Indonesian exports to Singapore in 1994 were jewelry, at $608 million, and crude oil, at $466 million, as well as telecommunication equipment and electronic goods, a fast- growing category.

The report from the chamber said "future trade growth between the two countries would depend on how well economies in the West perform and the pace of intra-Asian trade."