Indonesian Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi (Photo: antaranews)
Jakarta (VNA) – The trade deficit between Indonesia and China is forecast to balance by 2024 thanks to an increase in exports of manufactured products, said Indonesian Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi.
He made the statement at a hearing before Committee VI which oversees the fields of commerce, industry, investment, cooperatives, small and medium-sized enterprises, and state-owned enterprises of the House of Representatives on August 25.
His statement came after Indonesia succeeded in cutting its trade deficit with China from an average of 15 billion USD per year in the 2005-2019 period to 7.85 billion USD by the end of last year.
Lutfi attributed the result to an increase in iron and steel exports, saying that exports of this group of items, especially stainless steel, have risen sharply after Indonesia received investment capital in the nickel mining sector
Last year, China accounted for 69 percent of Indonesia's total turnover of 10.68 billion USD in iron and steel exports, thereby halving Indonesia's trade deficit with China to about 7.5 billion USD, he said.
Besides, Indonesia has an opportunity to export electric vehicles (EV) and EV batteries thanks to an investment project of about 10 billion USD from the Republic of Korea’s LG Energy Solutions Group, he added./.
