Visible trade gap shrinks by Lm77.2m

The National Statistics Office reports that over the first 11 months of last year the visible trade gap shrunk by Lm77.2 million to Lm316.4 million from the Lm393.6 million requested for the period a year earlier.

In November last year total imports had declined by Lm32.8 million over the same month in the previous year to Lm106.1 million.

Month on month, the importation of industrial supplies fell by Lm32.4 million to Lm53.2 million from Lm85.6 million. At Lm17 million, the importation of capital goods was down by Lm1.7 million. Over the same month, the importation of consumer goods imports dropped by Lm1.2 million to Lm26.2 million. Fuel imports, on the other hand were up by Lm2.4 million to Lm9.7 million.

Meanwhile, over November total exports were down by Lm25.2 million to Lm80.9 million from Lm106.1 million last year. While domestic exports dropped by Lm26.8 million to Lm69.7 million re-exports were up by Lm1.6 million to Lm11.2 million.

Merchandise trade: January-November
In the eleven months up to November, total imports had dropped by Lm239.7 or 17.5 per cent to Lm1133.6 million from Lm1373.3 million over the same period last year.

The importation of industrial supplies dropped by Lm205.3 million to Lm594.2 million from Lm799.5 million a year earlier. Imports of capital goods declined by Lm30.8 million to Lm187.6 million from Lm218.4 million in the previous year. At Lm259.2 million, the importation of consumer goods was down by Lm3.2 million over the previous year. In the same period, fuel imports were down by Lm6.8 million to Lm92.6 million.

In the period under review, total exports were down by Lm162.5 million to Lm817.2 million from Lm979.7 million a year earlier. On their own, domestic exports were down by Lm158.9 million to Lm817.2 million from Lm890.9 million last year. Re-exports declined by Lm3.6 million to Lm85.2 million.