Finance

Finance

China posts first trade deficit in 22 year

12 March 2012 14:09 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA-Economics. China has posted its first trade deficit since 1989, official figures show, as global economic jitters hit the world’s second-largest economy, APA reports citing Bloomberg.

The deficit totalled $31.48 billion in February.

China is normally a net exporter of goods - it recorded a surplus of $27.28 billion in January - but total monthly imports rose 39.6 per cent year-on-year to $145.96 billion, with exports rising 18.4 per cent to $114.47 billion in the month.

Exports from China to the West are suffering from the effects of the eurozone debt crisis and weak economic recovery in the United States.

The deficit was the largest for at least 12 years, according to Dow Jones Newswires records, and far in excess of the median forecast of $8.5 billion among the 15 economists it had surveyed.

Analysts had expected a deficit, as imports recovered from temporary disruption after the unusually early Chinese New Year holiday period in January, but they had predicted a larger rise in exports and a smaller increase in imports.

China’s trade figures are politically sensitive; Beijing and Washington are embroiled in a long-running dispute about the value of the yuan, which US politicians say is kept artificially low to unfairly help Chinese exporters.