By Yi Wei Wong
Indonesia's trade surplus narrowed in December as imports grew at a faster-than-expected pace from a month earlier, the government statistics agency said Friday.
The country posted a trade surplus of $2.10 billion last month, compared with $2.61 billion in November. A poll of analysts by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a $2.29 billion surplus.
Indonesia's exports rose 14.6% from a year earlier to $16.54 billion in December, driven by higher exports of palm-oil products. Exports rose 8.4% from the prior month.
In December, imports fell 0.5% from a year ago to $14.44 billion. Imports surged 14.0% from November, which was faster than expected, statistics head Suhariyanto said. The growth of imports was mostly driven by shipments of machinery and mechanical goods.
Indonesia has been hit hard by the pandemic, with the economy contracting 3.49% from a year earlier in the third quarter. The populous Southeast Asian nation last reported 869,600 active Covid-19 cases and 25,246 deaths, according to health-ministry data.
The Indonesian government has said it expects 2020 gross domestic product to contract in a range between 0.6% to 1.7%, before rebounding to 5.0% growth in 2021. The economy expanded by 5.0% in 2019.
Write to Yi Wei Wong at yiwei.wong@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-14-21 2313ET
