JAKARTA, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia's trade balance continued to record a surplus in July as the plunge of imports exceeded the export decline because the COVID-19 pandemic still weakens demands and economic activities.
Indonesia's National Central Agency of Statistics on Tuesday announced that the trade surplus edged up 3.26 billion U.S. dollars in July from 1.27 billion U.S. dollars in June.
Imports plunged by 32.55 percent to 10.47 billion U.S. dollars in July annualized, and exports drifted down by 9.9 percent to 13.73 billion U.S. dollars in the month on a yearly basis, the agency head Kecuk Suhariyanto noted.
For this year, Indonesia has recorded five months of net exports with foreign exchange reserves surging to a record high of 135.1 billion U.S. dollars in July.
The global economic fallout due to the virus pandemic has depressed demands and cut prices of commodities, the major export products from Indonesia.
Indonesia's exports are dominated by commodities, whose prices and demands have been dashed during the pandemic, still, recently the prices have been creeping up along with easing of restrictions and reopening of economies in several nations.
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