Indonesia's trade surplus narrows in May on rising import

 Indonesia recorded a lower trade surplus in May as import of unprocessed foods rose ahead of Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan.

The national statistic bureau announced on Wednesday that the Southeast Asia's biggest economy witnessed a trade surplus of about 375.6 million U.S. dollars, falling from a revised 680 million U.S. dollars in April.

Import in May decreased by 4.12 percent to 11.14 billion U.S. dollar on year, and export was down by 9.75 percent to 11.51 billion U.S. dollars, Suryamin, head of the bureau told a press conference at the bureau headquarters.

May's import increased by 2.98 percent from a month earlier, Suryamin cited.

The government of Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, has recently imported more unprocessed foods, such as meat and onion to stabilize prices at domestic market.

The cumulative of Indonesia's trade surplus by May reached 2.7 billion U.S. dollars, said Suryamin.

"This is still lower than the surplus from January to May last year of 3.9 billion U.S. dollars," he added.

Indonesia's export from January to May was at 56.59 billion U.S. dollars and import was 53.89 billion U.S. dollars, Suryamin added.

Indonesia's trade performance has witnessed surplus almost every month since last year.

source : xinhua