Trade deficit goes up by over 50% in September, too

September is the third month in a row to have witnessed a rise in trade deficit (exports-imports) by over 50%, to more than 1bn euros again. The trade deficit for September stood at 1.18bn euros, 52% higher than in September 2005, according to data from the National Statistics Institute (INS). In September, exports totalled 2.2bn euros (up 6% against September 2005), and imports amounted to 3.38bn euros (up 19%). For the first nine months of the year as a whole, the trade deficit stood at 9.61bn euros, a 46% increase against last year. The trade deficit worsened significantly after the last three months’ statistics (July-September) were published due to increases, which constantly exceeded 50%. “The trade deficit could exceed 8.7% of GDP, growing to 9-9.3% this year,” believes Florian Libocor, an analyst at BRD-SocGen. On the other hand, Libocor makes a point of saying that trade balance presented by the INS only takes commodities into consideration and not the service sector, which has this year generated surpluses.