MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina's trade surplus positive but down 30% in April

Argentina's trade surplus narrowed 30% in April from a year earlier to a lower-than-expected 864 million US dollars as surging imports offset high commodities export prices, according to official data from the Argentine government.

Imports surged 61% from a year earlier to 4.927 billion US dollars. April's exports rose 35% year-on-year to total 5.791 billion, after 19% growth in March and 45% growth in February. "The increase in the value of exports was the result of an increase in prices (of exports) while the amount of exports fell two percent" Argentina's questioned national statistics bureau, INDEC, said in a statement. The median forecast of the Argentine Central Bank survey of economists and traders last month put the trade surplus 1.15 billion US dollars.