Mexico posted a trade deficit of $1.997 billion in February, nearly three times bigger than expected, the Mexican government announced on Wednesday. Analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast the deficit at $696 million. Total exports increased 16.5 percent from February 2007 to $22.84 billion, with oil-related exports up 34.4 percent. Non-oil exports gained only 13.5 percent, in part because of weakening demand from the U.S., which buys about 80 percent of all Mexican exports. Imports in February were $24.834 billion, up 24 percent over the same month in 2007. Of that, imports of intermediate goods were 18.2-percent higher and consumer goods imports were up 34.3 percent. Imports of capital goods rose 48.7 percent. Also on Wednesday, Mexico's peso weakened 0.10 percent to 10.6965 per dollar. A weakening peso will make Mexican exports less expensive for buyers in the U.S., and make it more attractive for foreign companies to invest in Mexico.
Journal of Commerce
