Visible trade gap widens

The visible trade gap widened by Lm11.3 million in January when compared to the same month last year, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

Provisional data for international trade showed that the visible trade gap in January stood at Lm34.5 million, Lm11.3 million more than in the previous January, the NSO said.

Last January, imports increased while exports declined.

The increase in imports was mainly due to semi-manufactured goods and machinery and transport equipment.

Lower exports of machinery and transport equipment contributed to the shortfall in exports, although there was a rise in the export of miscellaneous manufactured articles.

An analysis of the total trade balance by commodity group indicated that the deterioration in the balance was registered in the beverages and tobacco, machinery and transport equipment and semi-manufactured goods sub-sectors.

Mineral fuels, miscellaneous manufactured articles and miscellaneous transactions registered an improvement in the trade balance.

The bulk of the country's trade flows and consequent deficit continued to be directed to the European Union.