Colombia: Decline in exports sharpens in January
Merchandise exports plunged in the first month of 2021, falling 24.1% in annual terms, below December’s 9.0% drop and logging the sharpest fall since June 2020. January’s tumble largely reflected collapsing fuel shipments. Moreover, exports of both manufacturing and agricultural products swung back into contraction.
Meanwhile, merchandise imports grew 0.7% year-on-year in December, last month for which data is available, bouncing back from November’s 12.7% drop and expanding for the first time since February. As a result, the merchandise trade deficit widened to USD 0.9 billion in December from USD 0.6 billion in December 2019. Lastly, the trend also deteriorated, with the 12-month trailing merchandise trade balance recording a USD 10.1 billion deficit in December, compared to the USD 9.8 billion deficit tallied in November.