DATA SNAP:Indonesia Mar Trade Surplus $3.27B;$2.68B Expected

DATA SNAP:Indonesia Mar Trade Surplus $3.27B;$2.68B Expected JAKARTA (Dow Jones)--Indonesia's trade surplus increased sharply to $3.27 billion in March from $2.52 billion in February, the Central Statistics Agency said Friday. Imports in March fell 33.4% on year to $5.27 billion, while exports declined 28.9% to $8.54 billion, the agency said. In February imports tumbled 42.0% on year, while exports fell 32.9%. Including imports to so-called bounded zones where imported commodities are reprocessed for exports, the trade surplus was $2.01 billion, up from $1.26 billion in February. A Dow Jones Newswires poll of 11 regional economists yielded a median forecast for a trade surplus of $2.68 billion, excluding imports to bounded zones. "On a on-month basis, exports rose 20.6%, due to the significant increase in the volume of resource-based exports," the agency's chairman Rusman Heriawan told reporters in a press briefing. He said the prices of commodities also increased during the month, which helped to boost the value of Indonesia's coal exports by $444 million and that of crude palm oil exports by $217 million in March from a month earlier. -By Farida Husna, contributing to Dow Jones Newswires; 62 21 39831277; I-Made.Sentana@dowjones.com Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rnd=rX4niQXJjYgIJl3Wiwfg5g%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day. (END) Dow Jones NewswiresMay 01, 2009 03:24 ET (07:24 GMT)Copyright 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.