Cape Verde’s trade balance deficit worsens again in March
According to the statistical report of Foreign Trade of the Cape Verdean INE, this result was aggravated by the increase in imports, which grew 20.2% in March, year-on-year, to €84.9 million.
Exports grew 58.9% in the same month to €5.9 million, while re-exports increased 12.1% to €30.7 million.
With this performance, Cape Verde’s trade balance was again negative in March – as in all previous months – at €79 million, against the deficit of €66.9 million in the same month of 2022
Cape Verde imports about 80% of the food it consumes, according to previous government data, due to the drought that has affected the archipelago over the past four years, and the production of 80% of electricity is still dependent on fossil fuel plants, which requires the import of refined fuels.
Until March, Europe remained as “the main client of Cape Verde”, absorbing 98.5% of total Cape Verdean exports, namely Spain (74.9%) and Portugal (12.2%), and mainly prepared and canned products (65%), according to INE.
In imports, the European continent also continues to be the main supplier of Cape Verde, with a weight of 68.6% of the total, mainly from Portugal (41.7%) and Spain (12.7%), in addition to Saudi Arabia (6.7%) and Argentina (6.3%).
Cape Verde’s imports increased 25.5% in the whole of 2022, while exports decreased 3%, compared to the previous year, INE released earlier.
According to foreign trade data, in 2022 Cape Verde’s exports totaled €45 million, a 3.0% year-on-year decrease.
In the year under study, Europe continued to be Cape Verde’s main client, absorbing 93.8% of the country’s total exports, a slight increase over the previous year, which was 92.1%.
The archipelago is recovering from a deep economic and financial crisis, resulting from the sharp drop in tourism demand – a sector that guarantees 25% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – since March 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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