January-August 2018 Imports Surge 25%

Imports in August decreased; however, cumulatively, over the first eight months of 2018, they increased by almost 25% compared to the previous year. Data from the Central Statistics Agency (Badan Pusat Statistik) recorded Indonesia's import value from January to August 2018 surging by 24.52% to US$124.19 billion (Rp 1.844 trillion) compared to the same period the previous year. Meanwhile, export value only grew by 10.39% to US$120.1 billion (Rp 1.784 trillion). As a result, this year's trade deficit widened to US$4.09 billion, or the equivalent of Rp 61 trillion.

China remains the largest source of non-oil and gas imports for Indonesia. Indonesia's imports from China for the January-August period this year reached US$28.78 billion, a 31.57% increase from the same period the previous year. Japan was the second largest source, with imports valued at US$11.98 billion, up 23.73% from the previous year. Third was Thailand, with imports valued at US$7.29 billion, up 18.92% from the previous year.

Based on the category of goods, imported goods experienced the largest growth. During the January-August 2018 period, imports of capital goods grew by 29.24% to US$19.5 billion compared to the same period the previous year. This was followed by consumer goods, which increased by 27.38% to US$11.54 billion, and raw materials/intermediate goods, which grew by 23.24% to US$93.2 billion.