Indonesia records 1.21 bln USD trade surplus in October

Indonesia posted 1.21 billion U.S dollars of trade surplus in October this year, relatively steady compared with 1.22 billion dollars a month earlier, a senior official said here on Tuesday.

With the latest surplus record, Indonesia's Central Statistics Bureau agency (BPS) Chief Suhariyanto said that the nation booked 6.92 billion dollars of surplus in the first 10 months this year.

He said total export in October grew 4.6 percent to 12.88 billion dollars from a year earlier.

The October's export rose 0.88 percent from 12.56 billion dollars a month earlier, he added.

Imports came in at 11.47 billion dollars in October, rising 3.27 percent a year earlier and 1.55 percent a month earlier, said Suhariyanto .

"The highest amount of imports was seen in machinery and electrical tools that reached 80.9 million dollars," Suhariyanto said.

The healthy trade surplus is highly expected to help Indonesia keep its current account deficit at sustainable level, supporting national currency from possible hike of the Fed's rate benchmark in the near future. Endit