XN000022-1988-07-26 — Page 7

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TUESDAY, JULY 26, 1988

THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS (DOMESTIC EXPORTS PLUS RE-EXPORTS), AT $40,485 MILLION IN JUNE 1988, WAS THUS $9,498 MILLION OR 30.7 PER CENT HIGHER THAN IN JUNE 1987.

THE VALUE OF IMPORTS GREW BY 34.4 PER CENT OR $11,062 OVER A YEAR EARLIER, TO $43,186 MILLION IN JUNE 1988.

MILLION

AS THE VALUE OF IMPORTS GREW FASTER THAN THAT OF TOTAL EXPORTS, A LARGER VISIBLE TRADE DEFICIT WAS RECORDED IN JUNE 1988 THAN IN THE SAME MONTH LAST YEAR.

IN JUNE 1988, THE VISIBLE TRADE DEFICIT AMOUNTED TO $2,701 MILLION, EQUIVALENT TO 6.3 PER CENT OF THE VALUE OF IMPORTS.

THIS COMPARES WITH A DEFICIT OF $1,137 MILLION, EQUIVALENT TO 3.5 PER CENT OF THE VALUE OF IMPORTS, RECORDED IN JUNE 1987.

PUTTING THE TRADE FIGURES FOR JUNE IN PERSPECTIVE, THE VALUE OF TOTAL EXPORTS IN THE FIRST HALF OF 1988 WAS $212,940 MILLION, MADE UP OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS OF $95,625 MILLION AND RE-EXPORTS OF $117,315 MILLION.

COMPARED WITH THE FIRST HALF OF

1987. IN VALUE TERMS TOTAL EXPORTS GREW BY $47,020 MILLION OR 28.3 PER CENT, DOMESTIC EXPORTS BY $9,833 MILLION OR 11.5 PER CENT, AND RE-EXPORTS BY $37,187 MILLION OR 46 .4 PER CENT.

OVER THE SAME PERIOD, THE VALUE OF IMPORTS GREW BY $49,538 MILLION OR 28.8 PER CENT, TO $221,691 MILLION.

A VISIBLE TRADE DEFICIT OF $8,751 MILLION, EQUIVALENT ΤΟ 3.9 PER CENT OF THE VALUE OF IMPORTS, WAS RECORDED IN THE FIRST HALF OF 1988.

EQUIVALENT

THIS COMPARES WITH A DEFICIT OF $6,233 MILLION,

ΤΟ 3. .6 PER CENT OF THE VALUE OF IMPORTS, RECORDED IN THE FIRST HALF OF 1987.

*

COMMENTING ON THESE FIGURES, A GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT SPOKESMAN SAID THE YEAR-ON-YEAR GROWTH RATE OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS I THE SECOND QUARTER, AT 8.9 PER CENT IN VALUE TERMS, REPRESENTED SLOW-DOWN FROM THE CORRESPONDING GROWTH RATE OF 14.6 PER CENT IN FIRST QUARTER.

IN VIEW OF A REBOUND IN THE GROWTH RATE OF DOMESTIC EXPORTS JUNE, MORE OBSERVATIONS WERE NEEDED ΤΟ SEE WHETHER THIS TREND SLOW-DOWN WAS CONTINUING.

THE

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/THE SPOKESMAN