Indonesia’s trade surplus narrowed sharply by a monthly rate of 71 percent in December as the country made higher purchases of machinery and mineral fuels.
The trade balance hit $1.02 billion in December, according to Statistics Indonesia.
Purchases of machinery rose by 15.2 percent from a month ago while those of mineral fuels surged by 60.8 percent.
In addition, oil and gas imports went up by 11.7 percent to hit $3.4 billion.
Exports fell by 2.04 percent to reach $22.4 billion, driven by an 18 percent decline in oil and gas exports.
Norway’s trade surplus
Norway's trade surplus jumped to a new record in December, boosted by higher prices for natural gas exports, according to data shown by the Norwegian National Statistics Agency.
It had a trade surplus of $12.09 billion in December, exceeding the previous record of $9.64 billion in October.
Italy’s inflation rate
The Italian consumer price index for the whole nation rose by 0.4 percent in December on a monthly basis and by 3.9 percent on an annual basis, according to the National Institute of Statistics.
Japan machinery orders
Japan’s core machinery orders rose for the second month in a row in November, indicating that companies’ susceptibility to capital spending remains resilient despite pressure from higher raw material prices.
