MADRID
– Spain’s exports dropped 5.2% in August, the worst since October 2009. The
reasons behind it are multiple, but the main cause is the problems the European
economies, especially France and Germany, have undergone. Sales to emergent
nations have also dropped, a contributing factor. While presenting these
figures at a press conference last week, the Minister for the Economy, Luis de
Guindos, pointed out that in real terms and having discounted the price of
exports, the downward drift is only 1%. Nevertheless, the general trend of the
Spanish economy is toward negative inflation. German exports fell by 1% in the
same period, and the French, 5.7%; in both countries this is the sixth
consecutive downturn. Exports from the UK were also down, which accumulated a
20% descent in eight consecutive months. Bad news, too, from outside the EU,
where exports dropped by 7.1%, particularly in emergent Latin American nations
such as Venezuela (-73.5%), Brazil (-22.3%) and Mexico (-16.5%). (Source:
El Economista)
