JAKARTA, June 19 (Reuters) -
Indonesia's trade surplus narrowed to $2.93 billion in May but still came in above market expectations as exports rose more than forecast, data from the statistics bureau showed on Wednesday.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a surplus of $2.74 billion. The surplus in April was $3.56 billion.
Exports rose 2.86% on a yearly basis in May to $22.33 billion, compared with a forecast rise of 0.78%. In April, exports had risen 1.72% from a year earlier, the first annual increase since May last year.
Imports fell an annual 8.83% to $19.40 billion in May, more than the poll's forecast of an 8.56% drop. Imports had increased 4.62% in April.
A decline over the past year in the value of shipments from Southeast Asia's largest economy due to soft global commodity prices has led to monthly trade surpluses narrowing.
Citing data from the World Bank, the statistics bureau said prices of Indonesia's commodities have recovered in May, and it attributed May's export increase to sales of nickel products.
(Reporting by Stefanno Sulaiman, Gayatri Suroyo and Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by John Mair)
