Merchandise trade from January to May 1998 grew by 3.2 percent to $24.633 billion from $23.867 billion last year. Revenue from exports increased by 20.3 percent to $11.515 billion from $9.571 billion a year ago while payments for imports dropped by 8.2 percent to $13.118 billion from $14.296 billion. The balance of trade in goods (BOT-G) continued to decline, dropping by 66.1 percent to $1.603 billion from $4.725 billion.

The total trade in goods for the first quarter increased by 6.8 percent to $14.854 billion from $13.905 billion last year. Expenditures for imports dipped by 4.3 percent to $8.038 billion from $8.400 billion a year ago. Exports, on the other hand, grew by 23.8 percent to $6.816 billion from $5.505 billion. The resulting balance of trade in goods (BOT-G) for the first quarter stood at $1.221 billion, which was 57.8 percent lower than $2.895 billion in 1997.

Merchandise trade for the first month of 1998 reached $4.947 billion, which was a 9.2 percent increase from the year-ago level of $4.530 billion. Export receipts went up by 25.0 percent to $2.115 billion from $1.692 billion a year earlier while import payments dipped by 0.2 percent to $2.832 billion from $2.838 billion. The balance of trade in goods (BOT-G) was $717 million, which dropped by 37.4 percent from $1.146 billion in January last year.