For the first time since official measurements began, the data on trade balance Greece, on a quarterly basis, ha positive sign.
Exports, in the July-September quarter, in fact exceeded imports, according to a statement released by Elsat, the Athens statistical agency.
Data on the trade balance have been regularly recorded since 2000, and in the last twelve years imports have always exceeded exports, therefore the trend reversal in the third quarter of 2012 represents a first sign of discontinuity.
In terms of value, the trade surplus amounts to 2.2 billion euros, but the data is more the result of internal devaluation than of the hoped-for return to competitiveness of the country, of which, however, devaluation is a necessary condition, when the members of the eurozone cannot depreciate the exchange rate to regain foreign market shares.
As noted by the Kathimerini newspaper, the positive trend in the trade balance is in fact mainly due to the contraction of domestic demand and therefore to the vertical collapse of imports, rather than to the growth of exports.
