Nation's trade deficit roars back in August

August 24, 2011 | 16:24

(0) user say

The General Statistics Office has estimated that the country had a trade deficit of $800 million in August after gaining a trade surplus last month for the first time since 2009.

illustration photo

According to the office's preliminary statistics, export turnover in August decreased 10.9 per cent over the previous month to $8.3 billion. In contrast, imports rose 10.7 per cent to $9.1 billion.

The office attributed the deficit to a sharp drop in the export of precious metals and gemstones in August. Export turnover of the products, which mainly contributed to help the country enjoy a trade surplus of $1.1 billion last month, decreased sharply by 82 per cent to $200 million in August.

Besides the decline in export of precious metals and gems, the GSO said that an export reduction in the country's several key export items also caused the trade deficit.

Textiles and garments were the only export product that earned a turnover of more than $1 billion in August. Other key export staples including crude oil and seafood contributed only $750 million and $590 million, respectively.

The main import commodities in August were petrol, worth $967 million, cloth at $540 million and electronic products and computers valued at $600 million.

With August's deficit, the GSO estimated the country had a trade deficit of $6.22 billion in the first eighth months of the year, equal to 10.23 per cent of the country's total export turnover. The country bagged an export earning of $60.8 billion, up 33.7 per cent over the same period last year, while spending $67.02 billion on imports, a 25.4 per cent surge over the same period last year.

The GSO noted that state-owned enterprises during the first eight months made up nearly a half to the country's total export turnover with $28.1 billion up 32.6 per cent over the same period last year. The businesses meanwhile spent $36.9 billion on imports.

VIR/VNA

What the stars mean:

★ Poor ★ ★ Promising ★★★ Good ★★★★ Very good ★★★★★ Exceptional