Indonesia Trade Surplus Shrinks To $3.48 Bln

(RTTNews) - Indonesia's foreign trade surplus decreased in October from a year ago as exports fell faster than imports, figures from Statistics Indonesia showed on Wednesday.

The trade surplus shrank to $3.48 billion in October from $5.59 billion in the same month last year.

Economists had expected a surplus of $3.0 billion. In September, the surplus was $3.4 billion.

Exports logged a double-digit annual decrease of 10.43 percent in October, versus an expected fall of 15.35 percent. The decline was largely attributed to lower overseas demand for non-oil and gas.

Imports declined 2.42 percent from last year, which was much slower than the 7.4 percent fall expected by economists.

On a monthly basis, exports showed an increase of 6.76 percent, and imports were 7.68 percent higher.