Jordan's trade deficit Up by 22 %

Jordan''s trade balance deficit rose by 21.6 percent until the end of September this year to JD5.2 billion, compared to JD4.3 billion in the same period of 2010, according to Department of Statistics (DoS) figures. They showed that the trade deficit, which is the difference between total exports and imports, went up due to a 19 percent rise in the Kingdom''s imports that hit JD9.5 billion, said Jordan''s news agency (Petra). Foreign trade data issued today showed that the rate of coverage of imports by the proceeds of exports was around 44.5 percent compared to 45.8 percent in the same period, a drop of 1.3 percent. The value of exports and re-exports until the end of September have risen by 15.4 percent at JD4.2 billion compared to JD3.6 billion in the same period in 2010. According to the figures, the value of national exports reached JD3.5 billion while re-exports stood at JD664 million. The Kingdom''s imports jumped by 18.8 percent at the end of September this year standing at JD9.5 billion compared to JD8.0 billion in the same period of last year. (QNA) M A