MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US trade figures suggest strong rebound

Trade figures released Friday by the United Stated Commerce Department suggest a strong rebound of the US economy with a 57 billion US dollars deficit in April showing record exports and imports.

The figure was below the forecasts of 35 economists who anticipated a 58 billion US dollars deficit.

Higher oil prices pushed imports 4,1% to a record 163,4 billion US dollars, the highest since November 2002, while imports also expanded, 3%, to a record 106,4 billion, with shipments to China and Latinamerica figuring strongly.

However the controversial deficit with China expanded 14% reaching 14,7 billion US dollars. Textile imports from China were twice as large as the same period in 2004.

Money markets reacted with a stronger US dollar against the main currencies and a drop in the yields of the Treasury bonds.

April's deficit was less than the average of the first three months of the year which if sustained would mean the international economy would add to the US growth rate in the second quarter. In the first four months of 2005 the trade deficit was almost 229 billion US dollars, compared to 187 billion in the same period last year.

Economists said that while the US economy continues to grow faster than Europe and Japan, and Asian governments prevented their currencies from rising against the US dollar, the trade deficit was unlikely to shrink significantly.