MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Regional inter-trade expands 25% and is expected to reach record 160bn dollars

ALADI headquarters in Montevideo

Trade among ALADI, Latin American Integration Association, which includes all the hemisphere countries with the exception of a few from Central America and the Caribbean, is expected to reach a historic record in 2011 close to 160 billion dollars, ahead of the 2008 record with 146 billion dollars.

Based on the current tendency of the first nine months of the year, up 25.4% compared to the same period in 2010, this year is expected to be a record in spite of the hovering uncertainty in the international economic context, points out a report from the association.

The ALADI country members’ GDP during the third quarter is estimated to have expanded 4.1%, “a good rate” given the global context, although slower than in the previous quarter with 4.6%.

Further more: overall inter-trade increased, both exports and imports, and in the majority of the countries that expansion was above 20%.

ALADI trade with the rest of the world also expanded in the first three quarters of the year, 28% exports and 24.1% imports, with surplus jumping to 32 billion dollars compared to the same period a year ago.

“For the first time in history global exports from ALADI member countries reached one trillion dollars” said the official report adding that the current global situation must be closely monitored since there are clear signals that the volume of world trade growth is “beginning to slow down”.

Likewise prices of commodities have begun to descend, particularly since last May, all of which has been reflected in “the deceleration of the region’s exports in recent months”.

ALADI permanent headquarters is in Montevideo and member countries include Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela as full members while Panama and Nicaragua are in the process of incorporation.