REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution reiterated that the decline in Indonesia's exports was due to the economic slowdown in the main exporting countries. He explained that the global development is so fast, while the adjustment is slow.

The main export destinations such as China, the United States, Japan, European Union and India have faced an economic slowdown, the minister elaborated. Demand from China, the largest export destination country for Indonesia, has declined, and it would not be easy to immediately shift the exports to other countries.

"Our products exported to China could not be easily redirected to other countries, because most of them are mining and plantation products," Darmin said here on Friday.

The government, he said, has encouraged the export of industrial products such as textiles and garments.

Earlier, the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) said Indonesia's exports in January reached US$13.87 billion or declined 3.24 percent compared to December 2018's exports at $14.33 billion. It declined 4.70 percent compared to exports in January 2018 at $14.55 billion.

The declining exports have contributed to the deficit in trade balance that reached $1.16 billion in January 2019, higher than the deficit in December at $1.03 billion.

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