Total merchandise trade for January to April this year grew by 2.6 percent to $20.101 billion from $19.595 billion last year. Revenues from exports posted a 12.1 percent increase to $10.199 billion this year from $9.101 billion a year ago while expenditures for imports declined by 5.6 percent to $9.903 billion from $10.494 billion. The balance of trade in goods (BOT-G) was in surplus at $296.0 million.

Two-way trade for April 1999 reached $4.943 billion, increasing by 4.2 percent over $4.742 billion last year. This marks the fourth straight increase of monthly merchandise trade. Aggregate earnings from exports amounted to $2.346 billion, up b

Merchandise trade for the first five months of 1999 grew by 3.0 percent to $25.382 billion from $24.634 billion last year. This growth was mainly due to a 12.4 percent increase in exports to $12.946 billion from $11.516 billion a year ago. Payments for imports dropped by 5.2 percent to $12.436 billion from $13.118 billion, leading to a positive balance of trade in goods (BOT-G) of $509.0 million compared to the deficit of $1.602 billion last year.

Total merchandise trade for May 1999 reached $5.280 billion, which was an increase of 4.8 percent over $5.039 billion a year ago. While earnings from exports amounting to $2.747 billion went up by 13.7 percent from $2.415 billion a year earlier, total payment for imports went down by 3.5 percent to $2.533 billion from $2.624 billion in 1998. The BOT-G was in surplus of $214 million.