Oil Imports Continues To Put Pressure On Indonesian Trade Balance

Jakarta, Sept 2 (Antara) - Oil and gas imports continue to put pressure on Indonesian trade balance despite a US$6.7 billion surplus in trade of other commodities in the first seven months of the year. In the same period, oil and gas trade still left a deficit of US$7.7 billion , deputy trade minister Bayu Krisnamurthi said. Altogether, the country`s trade balance still had a deficit of around US$1 billion, but it did not mean the trade performance had been bad, Bayu said here on Tuesday. He said the performance was still better if compared to trade balance in the same period in 2013 when the deficit was recorded at US$2.3 billion. In July alone , a surplus was recorded at US$123.7 million thanks to a surplus of US$1.73 billion in trade of commodities other than oil and gas . The surplus was reduced by a deficit of US$1.6 billion in the oil and gas trade. Surplus was recorded in July 2014 despite a 7.9 percent fall in exports compared with the previous month. The surplus in non-oil/gas trade in July was thanks to a 19.5 percent decline in imports of the commodities other than oil and gas with imports of consumer goods shrinking 27.3 percent. Surpluses were recorded in trade with India, the United States, the Philippines, the Netherlands and Pakistan, but deficit was recorded in trade with Japan, South Kore3a , Thailand, China and Argentina.