Indonesia's August Trade Balance Swings to a Surplus

Indonesia's trade balance swung to a large $1.72 billion surplus in August from a $271 million deficit in July as higher commodity prices boosted exports while imports slowed, the official Central Statistics Agency said Friday.

The surplus, which was the largest since November 2011, beat the median forecast from a Wall Street Journal survey of 10 economists for a $607 million surplus.

The country's exports in August were worth $15.21 billion, up 11.7% from the month before and up 19.2% from a year earlier due to higher coal, rubber and copper prices, the agency said.

August imports were worth $13.49 billion, down 2.9% from a month earlier though they were up 8.9% from a year earlier.

For the first eight months of the year, the Southeast Asian nation's exports were worth $108.8 billion, up 17.9% from a year earlier. Imports were worth $99.68 billion during the same period, rising 14.1% from a year before, mainly due a 15.4% increase in the imports of intermediary products.

-- Write to I Made Sentana at i-made.sentana@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 14, 2017 22:55 ET (02:55 GMT)