Agência Brasil*
Brasília – Brazilian exports totalled US$ 2.1 billion in the third week of February and imports totalled US$ 1.5 billion. International purchases grew above foreign sales, making the trade balance surplus (exports minus imports) drop from US$ 881 million, in the previous week, to US$ 579 million between February 13 and 17.
The figures were disclosed today (20) by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade and show that the surplus accumulated in 13 working days in February is US$ 1.6 billion. There are still five working days left up to the end of February, but the forecast is that the surplus for the month should be lower than the US$ 2.7 billion registered in the same period last year.
According to the Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex), connected to the ministry, in the accumulated result for the year, exports reached US$ 15.1 billion whereas imports totalled US$ 10.6 billion, which resulted in a trade balance surplus of US$ 4.4 billion, slightly over the US$ 4.2 billion surplus registered in the same period in 2005.
While sales abroad grew 19.5% this year, when compared to those of the same period last year, imports grew 26.6%. This partly explains the forecasts for a lower trade balance surplus made by market analysts consulted by the Brazilian Central Bank for their Focus bulletin, which was published today. According to them, the US$ 44.7 billion surplus of last year should drop to around US$ 40 billion in 2006.
*Translated by Mark Ament
