Agência Brasil*
Brasília – The Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade disclosed today (3rd) the balance of trade figures for the month of August, and for the first eight months of the year. The survey shows that imports are growing at a higher rate than that of exports.
In the first eight months of the year, exports rose by 15.9%, to stand at US$ 102.4 billion. Imports, on the other hand, grew by 27.8%, to reach US$ 74.9 billion.
Therefore, the accumulated trade surplus (exports minus imports) from January until August increased to US$ 27.5 billion, a 7.51% reduction compared with the US$ 29.7 billion recorded during the same period of 2006.
In the month of August, imports also grew proportionally more than exports, despite the fact that the two sectors have reached new record highs. Foreign sales stood at US$ 15.1 billion, an increase of 6.94% over the previous month. Imports were also the highest this year, at a monthly volume of US$ 11.5 billion and an increase of 7.36% over the month of July.
The trade balance surplus for August stood at US$ 3.535 billion – 5.61% more than in the previous month, but 22.37% less than recorded in August last year.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
