Export earnings for the first six months this year were 22.1% higher than the comparable period last year but the merchandise trade deficit spiralled by 41.1% because of the higher oil import bill.
The government’s mid-year report for 2008 tabled in the National Assembly on Monday said that the overall balance of payments showed a surplus of US$47.6M compared to a deficit of US$12.3M for the first half of last year.
The merchandise trade deficit at the end of June 2008 stood at US$261.3 which is 41.1% over the 2007 level.
Total export earnings for the first six months this year reached US$381M. This was put down to the higher volumes exported and more favourable world market prices.
Sugar export earnings were up by 3% to US$57.8M over the same period last year. “This was attributed to higher prices obtained in some markets along with the favourable effects of the Euro strengthening against the US dollar, causing the effective average price for the first half of this year to be some 7.3 percent higher at US$662.2 per tonne relative to US$616.9 during the corresponding period”. However, the volume of sugar exported during that period was 4% less.
Rice export earnings weren’t that far behind, registering US$50.5M for the first six months of this year or 30.9% more than the same period last year. This was mainly because of the price obtained for the grain. The price for rice surged by 111.4% to US$558.9 per tonne though the volume of rice exports declined sharply by 38.1% from 145,920 tonnes to 90,337 tonnes.
Monies from bauxite exports totalled US$68M, which was 57.5% over the value at the end of the first half of 2007. “This was due to a significant increase in export volume to 1,214,891 tonnes, representing a 35.7 percent increase” over the exported figure in 2007. The average unit price also rose by 16%.
The returns from gold exports also climbed by 46.4% to US$100.8M compared to the US$68.8M in 2007. The export volume jumped to 120,264 ounces from 106,276 ounces for the half-year period. The average price per ounce of gold shot up to US$838 compared to the average US$647.7 in the first half of 2007.
Proceeds from timber exports subsided to US$23.9M, which was 8.1% down from the first half of last year.
The US$145M rise in the value of merchandise to US$642.3M was attributed to higher food prices and the record price of fuel in the main.
