Trade balance surplus rose 11.6%

The Brazilian trade balance surplus reached US$ 18.579 billion in the first 114 working days of the year, an increase of 11.61% over the same period in 2006, according to a bulletin published by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade.
In the year, foreign sales reached US$ 66.559 billion to date, with growth of 20.18% or US$ 11.175 billion, but the purchases of foreign products grew more, mainly due to the appreciation of the Brazilian real against the dollar, and reached US$ 47.980 billion, with growth of 26.38% or US$ 10.014 billion.
The greater increase in imports caused market analysts to forecast a 10% lower trade balance surplus at the end of this year as against last year's, which was a record US$ 46.077 billion.
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