Indonesia's Q4 current account deficit at 2.2pc of GDP

JAKARTA: Indonesia's current account deficit in the final quarter of 2017 expanded because of higher imports of goods related to production activities in the period, the central bank said on Friday.

The current account deficit in the October-December period was $5.8 billion, or 2.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), compared with a deficit of 1.7 percent of GDP in the third quarter, Bank Indonesia (BI) said in a report.

Southeast Asia's largest economy had a balance of payments surplus of $1 billion in the fourth quarter, the central bank data showed.

For the whole of 2017, Indonesia posted an $11.6-billion surplus in its balance of payments, the BI also said, with a full-year current account deficit equivalent to 1.7 percent of GDP, in line with BI estimation of "below 2 percent".

This year, BI expects the current account deficit to be at 2 percent to 2.5 percent of GDP.

The current account is the broadest measure of a country's foreign trade in both goods and services. It is part of the balance of payments, which summarises an economy's transactions with the rest of the world.