XN000022-1984-12-28 — Page 2

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1984

NOVEMBER PROVISIONAL TRADE FIGURES PUBLISHED

*****

THE VALUE OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS IN NOVEMBER 1984 ROSE BY 13 PER CENT OR $1 309 MILLION OVER THE SAME MONTH LAST YEAR TO REACH $11 702 MILLION, ACCORDING TO PROVISIONAL TRADE FIGURES FOR NOVEMBER 1984 PUBLISHED TODAY BY THE CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT.

THE VALUE OF RE-EXPORTS ALSO INCREASED, BY 39 PER CENT OR $2 259 MILLION, TO $8 008 MILLION. TAKING DOMESTIC EXPORTS AND RE-EXPORTS TOGETHER, THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS, AT $19 710 MILLION, WAS 22 PER CENT OR $3 568 MILLION HIGHER THAN A YEAR AGO.

THE VALUE OF IMPORTS WAS $19 747 MILLION IN NOVEMBER 1984, REPRESENTING AN INCREASE OF 16 PER CENT OR $2 711 MILLION OVER THE SAME MONTH LAST YEAR. THE VISIBLE TRADE DEFICIT FOR NOVEMBER THIS YEAR WAS THUS $37 MILLION, COMPARED WITH $894 MILLION IN NOVEMBER LAST YEAR.

PUTTING THE MONTH'S TRADE FIGURES INTO CONTEXT, A GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT SPOKESMAN POINTED OUT THAT THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS FOR THE FIRST ELEVEN MONTHS OF 1984 WAS $200 549 MILLION, MADE UP OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS OF $126 063 MILLION AND RE-EXPORTS OF $74 486 MILLION,

COMPARED WITH THE FIRST ELEVEN MONTHS OF 1983, THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS INCREASED BY $56 987 MILLION OR 40 PER CENT, DOMESTIC EXPORTS BY $32 579 MILLION OR 35 PER CENT, AND RE- EXPORTS BY $24 408 MILLION OR 49 PER CENT. THE VALUE OF IMPORTS INCREASED BY $45 920 MILLION OR 29 PER CENT, TO $202 440 MILLION. AS THE GROWTH RATE OF THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS WAS MUCH FASTER THAN THAT OF IMPORTS, THE VISIBLE TRADE GAP NARROWED TO ONE PER CENT IN THE FIRST ELEVEN MONTHS OF 1984, FROM EIGHT PER CENT IN THE SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR.

COMMENTING ON THESE COMPARATIVE FIGURES, THE SPOKESMAN SAID THAT THE GROWTH RATES OF THE VALUE OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS, RE- EXPORTS AND IMPORTS HAD ALL SLOWED DOWN IN RECENT MONTHS, LARGELY REFLECTING THE SUBSTANTIAL RECOVERY IN THE SECOND HALF OF 1983.

THE FOLLOWING TABLE PRESENTS THE PROVISIONAL MERCHANDISE TRADE FIGURES FOR NOVEMBER 1984:

/TRADE FIGURES

I