Indonesia’s current account deficit widened to US$6.97 billion in the March quarter 2019 from a US$5.20 billion gap a year earlier. The latest reading equals to 2.6% of the country’s gross domestic product. The deficit of services account increased to US$1.79 billion from US$1.57 billion a year ago and that of primary income was up to US$8.10 billion from US$7.39 billion. Also, the gap of secondary income rose to US$1.87 billion from US$1.44 billion. Meanwhile, the surplus of goods account fell sharply to US$1.06 billion from US$2.32 billion, with exports falling 8.6% and imports declining 6.1%. In 2018, Indonesia posted a US$31.05 billion current account deficit, equivalent to 2.98% of the GDP, nearly twice a US$16.2 billion gap seen in 2017, amid higher purchases of oil, raw materials and capital goods.
