Brasília – Despite exports having reacted in February, after consecutive deficits in the four weeks of January, the trade balance deficit accumulated this year is 78% lower than that of 2011. According to figures disclosed by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, the country exported US$ 429 million more than it imported early this year up to the third week of February, against a surplus of US$ 1.954 billion recorded in the same period last year.
Last week, Brazil exported US$ 370 million more than it imported. The figure represents the difference between exports, which totalled US$ 4.703 billion, and imports, which reached US$ 4.333 billion. The result increased the year’s trade surplus to US$ 1.721 billion.
Sales abroad rose 3% in 2012, but imports rose 10%, which stunts a significant improvement in the balance of trade result. In the accumulated result for the year, exports rose from US$ 27.513 billion to US$ 28.535 billion. Purchases abroad, however, rose from US$ 25.559 billion to US$ 28.106 billion, reaching almost the same value as foreign sales.
*Translated by Mark Ament
