exports
(May 2013) Irish Economy: The ESRI (Economic and Social Research Institute), the publicly-funded independent think-tank, today forecasts GDP (gross domestic product) growth of 1.8% in 2013 and 2.7% in 2014, but behind the headline figures is a grim outlook with a reliance on tax-related services exports, emigration and an acknowledgement that research shows the economy contracted more in recent years than was suggested by the official data.
(April 2013) Mario Draghi, ECB president, said in a speech on Monday that the way out of the problems facing many Eurozone countries is to restore competitiveness. "And the way to do this in the context of a monetary union is to pursue with determination an ambitious structural reform agenda. Such an agenda comprises a number of national measures to make sure that the functioning of product and labour markets is fully compatible with participation in monetary union. One specific aspect is to fight vested interests that hamper competition, structural weaknesses of productivity and to allow, where needed, the nominal adjustments to play out." Italy, Draghi's own country, is facing problems it has allowed to fester for decades.
(April 2013) The UK economy will grow less than previously forecast in 2013 and further bond purchases by the Bank of England are unlikely to help.
(March 2013) The government of Japan announced this week a record annual trade deficit in 2012. Exports fell owing to weak European demand and a territorial dispute with China. Also this week, the European Union and Japan decided to open negotiations towards a free trade agreement next month. The aim is to create an additional one percent growth to improve the sluggish economic performance in the two regions.
(March 2013) The UK’s current account deficit rose to £57.7bn - - 3.7% of GDP (gross domestic product - - in 2012, according to Office for National Statistics data released on Wednesday. The deficit has not accounted for such a large share of GDP since 1989.
(March 2013) World trade rose in January 2013 following a 1.0% decline in December while industrial production was flat following a 0.7% increase in December.
(March 2013) Official data reported last week showed that GDP (gross domestic product) in Ireland rose 0.9% in 2012 but in real world terms, excluding tax-related intercompany transactions at US services giants, the Irish economy actually shrank. Even based on official data, a downwardly revised 0.4% contraction in Q3 and marginally negative GDP growth in Q4 mean that the economy was technically back in recession.
(March 2013) About 69% of exports of goods "made in Germany" were shipped to European countries. 57% of all goods were delivered to the member states of the European Union. The second important sales market for German goods in 2012 was Asia with a share of about 16%, followed by America, with a share of approximately 12%. Africa and Australia / Oceania only accounted for small percentages of German exports (2% and 1%, respectively).
(March 2013) Asia has become increasingly integrated over the past decade, led by growing trade and tourism. Despite a shift in direction of Asia’s exports, the share of intraregional exports has remained unchanged at around 56% into 2012. The proliferation of free trade agreements (FTAs) has been greatest in Asia; the global multilateral impasse has helped create an Asian noodle bowl, with more than 100 ratified FTAs involving at least one Asian economy.
(March 2013) World merchandise trade volumes only grew 2.2% in 2012 compared with 5.8% in 2011 and 15.1% in 2010.
