1st LD: Indonesia's trade surplus rises in April on lower import

Indonesia recorded a higher trade surplus in April as import decline exceeded export reduction amid slow economic growth.

The country's central bureau of statistics announced on Monday that the country posted a 667.2 million U.S. dollar trade surplus in April, up from 490 million U.S. dollars in March.

Import in April reached 10.78 billion U.S. dollars, falling by 14.62 percent on year and 4.62 percent on month, Sasmito Hadiwibowo, deputy head for distribution and services statistics of the bureau said.

Export in April stood at 11.45 billion U.S. dollars, decreasing by 12.65 percent on year and 3.07 percent on month, he said.

"The decline of export is primarily caused by a fall in our oil-and-gas exports," Hadiwibowo told a press conference at the bureau office.

He said that oil-and-gas export fell by 28.44 percent or 352 million U.S. dollars to 886.8 million U.S. dollars in April on a monthly basis.

Non-oil and gas export also contributed to the decline of total export in April, with the highest decline on coal export, the official said.

"Our coal export keeps falling," he said.

Indonesia is the world's largest exporter of thermal coal, palm oil, and the world's third biggest exporter of rubber and cocoa, as well as home to the world's second-biggest copper mine.

The country's exports have been weak in recent months due to falling demand on the its export products.

On import, the official said that the decline of oil-and-gas import was also the most contributive factor to the fall in April.

The import of the product stood at 1.36 billion U.S. dollars in April, falling by 41.74 percent on a yearly basis and 12.32 percent on month, he said.

On non-oil and gas import, the highest decline was recorded in unprocessed food, the official said.

In the first four months of the year, the cumulative trade surplus reached 2.325 billion U.S. dollars, Hadiwibowo said.

Fadil Hasan, an economist at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF), said the weak import in April was caused by subdued demand at the domestic level.

"Our surplus is caused by a higher decline of imports. It is actually worrying as it means that our economy has a problem," he told Xinhua by phone after the announcement.

Indonesia's gross domestic product grew 4.92 percent at the first quarter, lower than 5.02 percent median forecast of five economic analysts surveyed by Xinhua. Endit