Current Account Deficit Shrinks 48 Percent

Indonesia's current account deficit in the first quarter of 2017 shrank by 48.56 percent to US$2.39 billion from the same quarter of the previous year. The ratio of the current account deficit to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by the end of March 2017 was only 1 percent, while at the end of March last year it reached 2.4 percent.

This decline in the current account deficit was driven by a surge in the surplus of goods exports in the first quarter of 2017 by 113.3 percent to US$5.6 billion from the same quarter of the previous year. Goods exports in Q1 2017 reached US$40.76 billion, while imports were only US$35.1 billion.

Meanwhile, the services deficit in the first three months of 2017 only increased by 20 percent to US$1.35 billion from the same period the previous year. Services transactions in Q1 of this year consisted of exports worth US$5.8 billion and imports reaching US$7.16 billion. The primary income deficit also increased by 21.8 percent in the first three months of 2017 to US$7.47 billion from the same period the previous year. Primary income receipts were only US$1.22 billion, while primary income payments reached US$8.7 billion. Secondary income in Q1 2017 recorded a surplus of US$778 million.