Ramadan 2025
This report was written on the last day of Ramadan, the fasting month for the Muslim people. In Indonesia, the last two days were holidays, not because of Ramadan but because of the Hindu holiday, observed especially on Bali Island but which has become a national holiday. At the same time, Catholic worshipers have also been observing a fasting month that started on Ash Wednesday, March 5, 2025, the month prior to Easter. In Ramadan this year, people observed the fasting month peacefully. In fact, the Indonesian Minister of Religion preached about the beauty of pluralism, and this went viral on social media. The Minister was the one whose hand was kissed by Pope Francis during his recent visit to Indonesia.
After the month of Ramadan, the Muslim people celebrate Eid al Fitr, one of their most important holidays. In the Indonesian tradition, people go back to their hometowns and villages and usually bring savings to be spent in their hometowns or in tourist destinations. From an economic perspective, this tradition leads to a massive movement of people, with literally millions of people inundating the highways, trains, flights, and even ships.
During the holidays, hotels will be fully booked even though the hotel industry puts a surcharge on its rates. As for the banks, they prepare an extra amount of cash for the holidays, as the cash brought by travelers back to the hinterlands will later be deposited by local merchants in banks in the secondary or tertiary cities. Therefore, the month of Ramadan and the holidays that follow are always a major economic event.
In the midst of that active month, the Central Board of Statistics in Indonesia released its balance of trade report for the month of February 2025, which registered another surplus. The surplus was slightly lower than the previous month, at $3,116.9 million compared to $3,492.4 million in January. The total trade surplus for the first two months of 2025 stands at $6,609.3 million, more than twice as large as that of the previous year's $2,831.3 million. Exports in February 2025 reached $21,981.2 million while imports were $18,864.3 million. Cumulative exports from January to February 2025 were $43,409.5 million while cumulative imports for the same period were $36,800.2 million
The Central Board of Statistics also reported that the Consumer Price Index for the month of February 2025 resulted in deflation of 0.48%. With that monthly inflation, Y/Y deflation in February 2025 reached 0.09%, a level below the inflation corridor administered by the Central Bank. Against that background, Bank Indonesia kept the benchmark rate constant at 5.75% at its policy meeting held on March 18-19, 2025.
Now read on...
Register to sample a report