BUENOS AIRES: Argentina posted a $2.1 billion trade surplus in 2016, government statistics agency Indec said on Tuesday, as a 6.9 percent decline in imports outweighed a smaller increase in exports. For the month of December, the country posted a trade surplus of $65 million, down from a $115 million surplus in November, Indec said. Indec revised the November data up from the $100 million it reported last month.
Argentina had posted a $2.7 billion trade deficit in 2015. Shortly after taking office in December 2015, center-right President Mauricio Macri lifted currency controls and allowed the peso currency to float. That prompted a sharp devaluation, making exports cheaper to overseas buyers but making imports more expensive for Argentine consumers. Argentina’s exports totaled $57.7 billion in 2016, up 1.7 percent from last year, while imports totaled $55.6 billion, down from $59.8 billion in 2015. In December, exports rose 34 percent from the same period a year earlier, while imports rose 0.2 percent compared with December 2015.
