Brasília – The trade balance surplus in the first week of December, in which there were four working days, was US$ 376 million, according to figures disclosed today (7th) by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. In this period, exports totalled US$ 2.618 billion and imports, US$ 2.242 billion.
From January to the first week of December, the trade balance surplus has alrady totalled US$ 23.578 billion, 6.2% greater than that measured in the same period in 2008 (US$ 22.209 billion). In the accumulated result for the year, exports totalled US$ 141.15 billion and imports, US$ 117.572 billion.
On the 1st of the month, the Foreign Trade secretary at the ministry, Welber Barral, said that maintenance of imports and lower exports, characteristic of the end of the year, should cause the trade balance to end the year with a lower surplus than in 2008.
According to him, the trade balance result this year should not exceed the US$ 24.7 billion registered in 2008. For this month, the secretary estimates that the trade balance result should be close to zero.
*Translated by Mark Ament