First the good news; Peru managed to run a small trade surplus in February. This will take some pressure off the currency (as usual, click on any chart to enlarge);
Now the bad news. Exports might have been up slightly on January numbers, but February is like that. But exports also showed their second worst month since January 2007. Imports didn’t fare much better, registering their lowest month since June 2007.
But the really bad news is when you add up total import/export activity. Total trade movement is down 26% in the first two months of 2009 compared to the same period of 2008.
Why is this important? Because total impex movements comprise around 50% (yeah, fifty percent) of Peruvian GDP. So much for Twobreakfasts and his shock-proof economy, as Matuk so rightly points out today.