Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia`s imports reached an all-time high value of US$14.89 billion in April, jumping 32.54 percent from the same month last year, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) said.

April`s imports represented a 2.8-percent increase compared to a month earlier, BPS Deputy Chief for Distribution and Services Statistics Djamal said here on Wednesday.

According to BPS data, oil/gas imports in April rose US$1.01 billion or 35.28 percent from the previous month. However, non-oil/non-gas imports fell US$0.61 billion or 5.25 percent from the month before.

"The oil/gas imports mostly consisted of crude oil and oil products," he said.

Meanwhile, non-oil/non-gas imports were dominated by machinery and mechanical appliances valued at US$1.93 billion, he said.

Cumulatively, the country`s imports in the January-April 2011 period reached US$53.69 billion, up 30.32 percent from the same period last year, he said.

In the four months through April non-oil/non-gas imports increased 27.63 percent to US$41.40 billion and oil/gas imports jumped 40.29 percent to US$12.29 billion from the same period last year, he said.

He noted that China remained on top as the supplier of imported goods in the first four months of 2011 with US$7.47 billion, accounting for 18.03 percent of the overall imports.

Japan came in second with US$5.75 billion or 13.89 percent and Thailand in third with US$3.49 billion or 3.49 percent.

Overall, imports from other ASEAN member countries contributed 23.74 percent and European Union 8.82 percent to the overall imports.
(L.M035*H017/S012/HAJM/A014)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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