Cecília Jorge
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - Brazil expects to achieve the trade flow target set in the 2004-2007 Multiannual Plan (PPA) by the end of this year. According to president Lula, the minister of Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade, Luiz Fernando Furlan, made this prediction on Monday (3).

Lula pointed out that the Multiannual Plan projects an overall trade flow of US$ 215 billion by 2007. At the beginning of this year, the country's imports and exports totaled around US$ 200 billion. "This means that we will surely fulfill the PPA projected for 2007 a year ahead of schedule," Lula proudly declared.

The trade surplus in the first quarter of 2006 amounted to US$ 9.346 billion, US$ 1.040 billion (12.52%) more than in the first quarter of 2005. According to the most recent bulletin published by the Ministry of Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade, there were US$ 29.388 billion in exports during this period (up 20.2%) and US$ 20.042 billion in imports (up 24.1%).

The comprehensive figures for the trade balance demonstrate that the cumulative surplus over the last 12 months (April 2005 to March 2006) amounts to US$ 45.799 billion, superior to last year's record surplus of US$ 44.7 billion, despite the fact that the government and the market have been predicting that the trade surplus will decrease at least 10% this year.

Translation: David Silberstein