President Joko Widodo's visit to Hamburg, Germany, to attend the G20 Summit on July 7-8, 2017, can be a momentum to enhance trade cooperation between Indonesia and Germany. Indonesia has consistently had a trade deficit with Germany. However, this deficit has been shrinking in line with the decline in bilateral trade.
Data from the Ministry of Trade shows that the Indonesia-Germany trade balance in 2012 reached US$7.26 billion. Indonesia's exports to Germany only reached US$3.07 billion, while imports from Germany reached US$4.19 billion. This resulted in a deficit of US$1.1 billion. In 2016, the value of Indonesia-Germany trade fell to US$5.8 billion, with Indonesian exports at US$2.6 billion and imports at US$3.16 billion, resulting in a deficit of US$520 million.
During the January-March 2017 period, trade between the two countries reached US$1.39 billion, a 3.15 percent increase from the same period the previous year. Indonesian exports reached US$640.85 million and imports amounted to US$751.57 million, resulting in a deficit of US$110.7 million.
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