In January, Portugal saw a decrease in its foreign trade deficit from the equivalent period of the previous year, due to a rise in exports coupled with a decline in imports. These findings were presented by Statistics Portugal early this week.
The trade deficit fell to 1.66 billion Euros in January, a decline from the 2.06 billion Euros recorded in the same month last year. In December, the deficit stood at 2.4 billion Euros.
Export levels in January were slightly higher than last year, showing a 0.4 percent increase, after stagnating in the previous month. On the other hand, imports witnessed a similar trend, however in a regressive manner, with a recorded decline of 4.5 percent following a 5.5 percent drop in December.
There was a significant growth in the shipping of transport material, at 13.9 percent when compared to the previous year.
Upon the exclusion of fuels and lubricants, exports showed an annual increase of 1.0 percent, whereas imports resulted in a marginal decrease of 0.6 percent.
