Portugal June-August Trade Deficit Widens

Portugal's merchandise trade shortfall widened in the June-August period as imports increased at a faster pace than exports, data released by the National Statistics Institute showed Wednesday.

The balance of trade for the three months ended August was a deficit of EUR2.41 billion, bigger than the EUR2.24 billion shortfall recorded a year earlier.

Merchandise exports increased 2.3 percent annually to EUR11.63 billion at the end of August. Shipments to the European Union (EU) countries and the Non-EU market grew 2.1 percent and 2.8 percent respectively.

Imports grew 3.1 percent from last year to EUR14.04 billion in the August quarter. Purchases from the EU climbed 4.4 percent year-on-year, and those from the external market stayed unchanged.

In the month of August, Portugal's exports stayed unchanged from the preceding month, while imports decreased by 3.5 percent, data showed.

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2013-10-9 17:42

U.K. Visible Trade Gap Narrows On Record High Exports

The U.K. visible trade deficit narrowed more-than-expected to a near 1-year low in June, thanks to record exports amid slower increase in imports.

The deficit on goods trade declined to GBP 8.1 billion in June, the lowest since July 2012, from GBP 8.7 billion in May, the report released by the Office for National Statistics showed Friday.

The decrease of GBP 0.6 billion remains within the range of normal month-on-month movement, the ONS said. The number was also below the expected GBP 8.35 billion deficit.

The visible trade deficit was partially offset by an estimated surplus of GBP 6.5 billion on services. As a result, the total trade deficit fell to GBP 1.5 billion from GBP 2.6 billion in the previous month.

Exports of goods rose by GBP 1.3 billion to a record GBP 26.9 billion in June, while imports increased by a moderate GBP 0.7 billion to GBP 35 billion.

In the second quarter, the deficit on trade in goods reduced to GBP 24.9 billion from GBP 26.5 billion in the previous quarter, the ONS said.

Exports of goods reached GBP 78.4 billion, the highest on record. Likewise, imports of good increased to GBP 103.3 billion, the strongest level since the three months to November 2011.

Exports to countries outside the EU climbed 7.5 percent to over GBP 40 billion for the first time. At the same time, exports to the EU countries gained 2.3 percent.

Looking ahead, IHS Global Insight's Chief U.K. Economist Howard Archer said the hope is that a competitive pound and gradually improving global growth increasingly supports exports.

Nonetheless, Capital Economics' economist Martin Beck said growing signs of a consumer-led recovery, as well as the increased import demand implies that the trade deficit will probably struggle to narrow further over the coming months.

Another report from ONS revealed that construction output advanced 1.4 percent sequentially in the second quarter. It was estimated to have increased by 0.9 percent, while calculating GDP figures. But the agency said the revision has no effect on initial GDP estimate.

According to preliminary estimates, the pace of economic growth doubled to 0.6 percent from 0.3 percent in the first quarter.

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2013-8-9 17:42

Japan Revises Q4 Nominal Gdp Slightly up After Calculation Errors

Japan's Cabinet Office revised nominal gross domestic product, exports, imports and the deflator for the fourth quarter of last year after discovering errors in the way it adjusted the exports and imports for seasonal factors.

The Cabinet Office issued the revisions after Yoshiki Shinke, chief economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute, published a report on Tuesday saying the data may have been incorrect, according to a government official.

The revisions do not change real GDP, exports or imports for the October-December period last year or other past data, the Cabinet Office said in a statement.

Still, the revisions were due to incorrect spreadsheet entries, the government official said. This could cast doubt on the reliability of the Cabinet Office, which also publishes closely-watched data on capital expenditure and consumer sentiment.

The Cabinet Office corrected nominal seasonally adjusted exports to show they fell 1.7 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter, more than a 0.3 percent decline previously reported.

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2013-5-8 08:14