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Brazil's imports, exports plummet in 2016 despite record trade surplus

Xinhua, January 3, 2017 Adjust font size:

Brazil registered a trade surplus of 47.69 billion U.S. dollars in 2016, the country's largest in 27 years, the Ministry for Development, Industry and Trade said on Monday.

These positive figures, however, were not a result of any major rise in exports. On the contrary, both Brazil's exports and imports fell from 2015 to 2016, with imports much more sharply, according to Foreign Trade Secretary Abrao Neto.

In 2016, Brazil's exports shrank 3.18 percent to 191.13 billion dollars, with a daily average of 738 million dollars. On the other hand, imports jumped by a staggering 19.78 percent to 137.55 billion dollars, or 548 million dollars per business day.

The sharp decrease in imports was mainly attributed to the awkward Brazilian economic situation. The country is facing a two-year-long recession that caused a record unemployment rate and continuing inflation.

In addition, the nation is gripped by political problems, which have made the economic scenario more unstable.

The foreign exchange rate has also hit Brazilian's wallet hard, with one U.S. dollar exchanging 3.26 Brazilian reais. In 2013, the figure hovered around 1:2. Endi