Indonesia managed to record positive achievements in the trade sector amid the challenging economic situation in 2022, Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan said in an official statement released here on Monday.

“We should be grateful because (we) could still record many positive achievements in Indonesia’s trade sector,” he added.

Since the fourth quarter of 2021, Indonesia’s economic growth has remained above five percent, he noted. Even though earlier—in the period from the second quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021—it experienced a contraction or negative growth, Indonesia’s economy gradually recovered to record a growth of 5.72 percent year on year in the third quarter of 2022.

According to Hasan, exports have been one of the main drivers of economic growth.

“The contribution of good and service exports continued to increase from the second quarter of 2021 to the third quarter of 2022, from 20.46 percent to 26.23 percent of the GDP (gross domestic product),” he informed.

He further said that the growth in the exports of goods and services also reached a high twice in 2022, namely in the first quarter and second quarter at 16.22 percent and 19.74 percent year on year, respectively.

“The value of non-oil and gas exports as the driver of total export performance in 2022 even reached US$253.61 billion in January–November 2022, exceeding the 2021 achievement of US$219.25 billion,” he added.

The minister noted that the increase in the prices of commodities, such as nickel and coal, was still a key contributor to growth and a result of the commodity supercycle era.

In the January–November 2022 period, exports of refined nickel products grew by as much as 398.39 percent, followed by coal (70.17 percent). Despite the global downturn, during the period, Indonesia’s exports of manufactured products continued to grow, with shipments of steel expanding by 37.11 percent, footwear 29.27 percent, and vehicles and spare parts 27.29 percent.

In general, the export achievement, which was higher than imports, has helped Indonesia record a trade balance surplus for 31 consecutive months since May 2020.

In January–November 2022, the surplus reached US$50.59 billion.

“The figure becomes a new historical record for Indonesia because it surpassed the previous highest record in 2020 with a surplus value of US$39.73 billion,” Hasan said.

Source: Antara News