2
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1989
TO
THIS COMPARES WITH A DEFICIT OF $4,842 MILLION, EQUIVALENT 1.1 PER CENT OF THE VALUE OF IMPORTS, RECORDED IN THE SAME PERIOD IN 1988.
COMMENTING ON THESE FIGURES, A GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT SPOKESMAN SAID THAT THE PERFORMANCE OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS HAD BEEN SLUGGISH SINCE MAY.
THE NEGATIVE GROWTH RATE IN VALUE TERMS OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS IN NOVEMBER WAS PRECEDED BY A SMALLER NEGATIVE GROWTH RECORDED IN SEPTEMBER.
THERE WAS ALSO A MARKED DECELERATION OVER THE PAST PEW MONTHS IN THE GROWTH RATE OF RE-EXPORTS, LARGELY CAUSED BY THE CONTINUED SETBACK IN RE-EXPORTS TO CHINA.
THE SPOKESMAN ADDED THAT, ON A YEAR-ON-YEAR COMPARISON, THE VALUE OF RETAINED IMPORTS HAD SHOWN MARKED DECREASES FOR FIVE CONSECUTIVE MONTHS. THIS SUGGESTED THAT BOTH DOMESTIC DEMAND AND THE SHORT-TERM PROSPECT FOR DOMESTIC EXPORTS WERE SLACK.
/PRESS RELEASE