Indonesia’s trade surplus will enable its government to restructure the economy and attract investment, but Jakarta will ultimately struggle to reduce its reliance on energy exports. The recent surge in global energy prices and demand has been a boon for Indonesia, which saw its energy exports grow by 35.4% between 2020 and 2021. The country now has a $35.34 billion trade surplus, which its government will use to diversify the economy away from energy exports to avoid over-relying on an industry heavily influenced by global demands. The first step of this push will include reforming Indonesia’s state-owned enterprise (SOE) sector by permanently closing poor-performing SOEs while preparing others for initial public offerings (IPOs). The oil and gas company Pertamina and electrical utility company Perusahaan Listrik are among the largest SOEs in Indonesia in terms of assets and revenue, and both are planning to go public later this year. The revenue...
