THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 1987
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PROVISIONAL TRADE FIGURES FOR FEBRUARY RELEASED
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EXTERNAL TRADE CONTINUED TO SHOW SUBSTANTIAL GROWTH IN FEBRUARY 1987. THE GROWTH RATES OF DIFFERENT TRADE AGGREGATES VARIED CONSIDERABLY, HOWEVER.
THE VALUE OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS IN FEBRUARY 1987, AT $9 992 MILLION, INCREASED BY 19.7 PER CENT OR $1 645 MILLION COMPARED WITH FEBRUARY 1986, WHILE THE VALUE OF RE-EXPORTS INCREASED BY 54.4 PER CENT OR $3 740 MILLION TO $10 616 MILLION, ACCORDING TO THE PROVISIONAL TRADE FIGURES PUBLISHED TODAY BY THE CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT.
TAKING DOMESTIC EXPORTS AND RE-EXPORTS TOGETHER, THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS, AT $20 608 MILLION, WAS 35.4 PER CENT OR $5 385 MILLION HIGHER THAN IN FEBRUARY 1986. THE VALUE OF IMPORTS GREW BY 42.0 PER CENT OR $7 135 MILLION OVER FEBRUARY 1986 TO $24 118 MILLION.
IN FEBRUARY 1987, THE VALUE OF RE-EXPORTS EXCEEDED THAT OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS. THE LAST TIME THIS OCCURRED WAS IN MARCH 1985.
AS THE GROWTH IN THE VALUE OF IMPORTS WAS FASTER THAN THAT OF TOTAL EXPORTS, THE VISIBLE TRADE GAP (THAT IS, THE PROPORTION OF THE VALUE OF IMPORTS NOT COVERED BY THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS) RECORDED IN FEBRUARY 1987 WIDENED TO 14.6 PER CENT, COMPARED WITH A VISIBLE TRADE GAP OF 10.4 PER CENT IN FEBRUARY 1986.
AS A RESULT OF THE TRADE SURPLUS RECORDED IN JANUARY, A CUMULATIVE VISIBLE TRADE DEFICIT OF $969 MILLION WAS RECORDED FOR JANUARY AND FEBRUARY TAKEN TOGETHER, REPRESENTING ONLY 2 PER CENT OF THE VALUE OF IMPORTS FOR THESE TWO MONTHS.
COMPARING THE FIRST TWO MONTHS OF 1987 WITH THE SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR, DOMESTIC EXPORTS AND RE-EXPORTS GREW BY 27.4 PER CENT AND 46.5 PER CENT RESPECTIVELY. AS A RESULT, TOTAL EXPORTS INCREASED BY 36.0 PER CENT. ON THE SAME BASIS OF COMPARISON, IMPORTS GREW BY 33.1 PER CENT.
COMMENTING ON THESE FIGURES, A GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT SPOKESMAN SAID THAT THE SUBSTANTIAL GROWTH RATES ACHIEVED BY DOMESTIC EXPORTS IN THE LATTER PART OF 1986 HAD CONTINUED IN THE FIST TWO MONTHS OF THIS YEAR. SIMILARLY THE VERY SHARP RECOVERY IN RE-EXPORTS SEEN TOWARDS THE END OF LAST YEAR WAS ALSO CONTINUING.
THIS WAS MAINLY THE RESULT OF CHINESE GOODS BEING CHANNELLED THROUGH HONG KONG AND REFLECTED CHINA'S EFFORTS TO PROMOTE ITS EXPORTS. THE STRONG GROWTH IN IMPORTS SUGGESTED THAT THE GROWTH MOMENTUM OF EXPORTS SHOULD BE SUSTAINED IN THE COMING MONTHS.
/THE FOLLOWING