Indonesia's Current Account Deficit Reaches US$2.23 Billion in Q2 2021

Indonesia's current account balance recorded a deficit for the second time this year. Bank Indonesia (BI) reported a current account deficit of US$2.23 billion, equivalent to Rp32.35 trillion, in the second quarter of 2021.

This deficit increased by 111.05% compared to the first quarter of 2021 (quarter-to-quarter/q-to-q). Compared to the second quarter of 2020, the current account deficit decreased by 22.91% (year-on-year/yoy).

Cumulatively, in the first half of 2021, the current account deficit was recorded at US$3.29 billion. This figure is down 48.09% compared to the first half of 2020, which was US$6.34 billion (cumulative-to-cumulative/c-to-c).

The surge in the quarterly current account deficit was driven by a 20.67% increase in the primary income deficit to US$8.14 billion (q-to-q). This was due to an increase in dividend payments to foreign investors.

The services account deficit also increased by 8.36% to US$3.65 billion (q-to-q). This was caused by an increase in payments for import freight services.

Meanwhile, mitigating the deepening of the current account deficit in the second quarter of 2021 was an increase in the export surplus by 6.15% to US$8.09 billion (q-to-q). Furthermore, the secondary income balance recorded a surplus of 2.31% reaching US$1.46 billion (q-to-q).