Exports increased by 4% in the first quarter – Economic

                 Luís Reis Pires

11:21

First three months of the year saw an increase sales abroad and a fall in imports, which helped reduce the trade deficit.

The country’s exports amounted to 12.1696 billion euros in the first three months of the year, show data published today by the National Statistics Institute (INE). Ie an increase of 4% over the same period.

The data also show that after the break in January and recovery in February, March was crucial to the rise of the first quarter with exports growing 10.9% – March is, as a rule, a positive month for sales abroad

Imports fell 1.4% in the first quarter as growth. 10% in March was insufficient to offset the sharp fall in the first two months of 2015.

Accounts made, the trade deficit amounted to 1.9687 billion euros, 661.3 million less than in the first quarter last year.

Sales to Angola falling

The first three months of the year dictated a change in the main trading partners of Portugal, with the UK now occupy the fourth place of the main target markets, surpassing Angola.

The fall in oil prices has hit hard the Angolan economy, which cut significantly in investment and imports. As a result, sales of Portugal to Angola totaled around EUR 552 million between January and March, 23.6% less than in the first quarter of last year.