(Reuters) – Indonesia’s trade surplus likely narrowed to $2.75 billion in April, as exports and imports continued to rise despite the threat of slowing global trade due to the U.S. tariff policy, a Reuters poll showed on Wednesday.
Southeast Asia’s largest economy booked a $4.33 billion trade surplus in March, wider than expected, amid strong palm oil and nickel exports as well as a rush to beat the start date of U.S. tariffs.
Jakarta is currently negotiating the 32% tariff the U.S. wants to impose on Indonesian products, offering to buy more American goods to balance their trade imbalance. The tariffs are paused until July.
Before the tariff announcement, Indonesia had seen its exports rebound from lows reached after the end of a commodity boom in 2022.
Analysts in the poll estimate exports rose 5.75% on a yearly basis in April, topping the 3.16% growth rate in March.
Imports are estimated to have grown 6.50%, which would make it the strongest in four months, including the previous month’s 5.34% increase.
(Polling by Susobhan Sarkar and Veronica Khongwir in Bengaluru; Writing by Gayatri Suroyo in Jakarta)
