AUGUSTASIA BUSINESS OUTLOOK9ROOMINDONESIA LOGS IN TRADE SURPLUS OF $3.46 BILLION IN IMPORTSINDIA JAPAN BUSINESS PARTNERS TO BOOST STATE'S 1 TRILLION DOLLAR ECONOMY DREAMThe India-Japan Business Summit, organised by the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) in collaboration with knowledge partner PWC and conceptualised by The Indo-Japan Business Council (IJBC), suggested that collaboration between Indian and Japanese companies could significantly improve the state's vision of a trillion-dollar economy by 2032. The Summit, themed "Make in India with Japan for the World," featured prominent speakers who opined that there were several industry verticals such as defence, aerospace, manufacturing, information technology, and chemical industry where both countries could collaborate to further trade and investments."Japan-India business cooperation will bring synergy to both economies by combining Japanese manufacturing know-how with India's information technology capabilities and its abundant talented workforce. "There is a huge potential for the two countries to develop lighthouse projects in industries which present potential for collaboration such as the chemical industry, which is a multi-billion-dollar opportunity. The defence and aero industry which is looking to indigenize sub-assemblies with newer and more autonomous manufacturing processes is another big opportunity. "Also, Japanese startups are now looking at Bengaluru very seriously. Indonesia recorded a surprisingly large trade surplus of $3.46 billion in June, as imports plunged more than expected and exports also remained weak, official data showed on Monday, adding to the case for possible rate cuts before year-end.A poll of economists had expected a surplus of $1.35 billion last month. The country recorded a surplus of around $440 million in May.However, the resource-rich country's overall trade surplus in the first half of 2023 remained some $5 billion below last year's. Indonesia's January-June trade surplus stood at $19.93 billion, data from the statistics bureau showed.Analysts expect the surplus in merchandise trade for Southeast Asia's largest economy to narrow this year as exports soften amid declining prices of its top commodities, including palm oil, coal and nickel, and weakening global demand.Exports slumped 21.18 per cent on a yearly basis to $20.61 billion in June, deeper than the 18.85 per cent fall expected in the poll.Shipments of coal and palm oil suffered the biggest drop.Imports were down 18.35 per cent on a yearly basis to $17.15 billion, compared with the poll's forecast of 7.75 per cent contraction with purchases of raw materials falling the most.
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