Spain's Jan.-Oct. trade deficit nearly 40 pct higher than last year

MADRID, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Spain's trade deficit for the first ten months of this year reached 21.07 billion euros (24.97 billion U.S dollars), up 39.9 percent from the same period of last year, the Spanish economy ministry said Friday.

Exports rose by 9.3 percent in the first ten months when compared with the first ten months of 2016 to 229.8 billion euros, a record high according to the ministry.

Exports of capital goods rose by 10.3 percent and accounted for 20.2 percent of the total, and those of food, drinks and tobacco increased by 7.5 percent representing 16.5 percent of the total.

During the same period, imports increased by 11.3 percent year-on-year to 250.87 billion euros, with imports of capital goods rising by 10 percent accounting for 21.4 percent of the total. (1 euro=1.185 U.S. dollars) Enditem