Record low: Argentina trade surplus falls in January
The trade balance dropped 88% to $35 million in January compared with the same month a year earlier.
BUENOS AIRES:
Argentina’s economy showed signs of weakness in January, posting its lowest trade surplus since March 2001, the national statistics agency said Friday as it also reported solid 4.9% growth last year. The trade balance dropped 88% to $35 million in January compared with the same month a year earlier, according to INDEC agency figures. Argentina sharply devalued its peso currency in January, losing 18% of its value to the dollar, and launched a new index this month that showed a sky-high 3.7% rise in prices in January. In the first month of the year, exports fell eight percent to $5.231 billion, while imports dropped four percent to $5.196 million. Energy imports pulled down Argentina’s trade surplus, which fell 27% in 2013, to $9.024 billion. The trade balance was low despite a 24% decline in fuel imports, dropping to $520 million.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 23rd, 2014.
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