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2/12/2012
Portugal Q4 trade gap shrinks by 17%
Portugal's global trade deficit shrunk by 17 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 from the same period a year earlier, as exports edged up and imports fell due to a drop in internal demand, the National Statistics Institute said.
Portugal Q4 trade gap shrinks by 17%
Portugal's global trade deficit shrunk by 17 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 from the same period a year earlier, as exports edged up and imports fell due to a drop in internal demand, the National Statistics Institute said.
Exports to European Union countries that represent Portugal's main market fell by 2.5 percent to around 7.76 billion euros due to economic slowdown there, but sales of goods outside Europe rose by 10 percent to 3.37 billion euros, the institute said.
The debt-laden country's exports sector has been doing relatively well even as the government imposed tough austerity under a 78-billion euro EU /IMF bailout that weigh on internal consumption.
Export growth has helped alleviate some of the pressure on the economy, which is still expected to have slumped 3 percent last year and decline a further 1 percent or more this year as the country struggles through its worst recession since the 1970s. (Reuters)