China's April trade surplus down 1.1% to $16.7 bln

China's trade surplus reached 16.68 billion U.S. dollars in April, the General Administration of Customs said on Monday.

The figure was down 1.14 percent year-on-year but up 24.5 percent from 13.4 billion U.S. dollars in March, and it was almost double the 8.6 billion U.S. dollars posted in February.

Exports in April rose 21.8 percent year-on-year to 118.71 billion U.S. dollars, while imports rose 26.3 percent to 102.03 billion U.S. dollars.

The year-on-year decline reflected weakening external demand caused by the continuing global credit crisis, as well as the government's prudent monetary policy to reduce liquidity, said Zhao Jinping, an economist of the Development Research Center (DRC) of the State Council.

According to Zhao, the continued strengthening of the yuan was a more significant factor in helping narrow the trade gap. The yuan's central parity rate against the U.S. dollar surged 185 basis points to 6.982 on Monday. The currency has risen 4.26 percent against the U.S. dollar so far this year.

The credit crisis in the United States could affect other countries and demand could fall as the economy fell into recession, affecting Chinese exports, said Zhao.

Zhang Liqun, an economist from the DRC, said a sharp slowdown in exports could cause serious problems for the overall economy.

Total trade in the first four months hit 791.1 billion U.S. dollars, up 24.4 percent year-on-year. The four-month trade surplus was 58 billion U.S. dollars, down 5.32 billion U.S. dollars year-on-year.

Exports in the four-month period were 424.6 billion U.S. dollars, up 21.5 percent, or 6 percentage points less than a year earlier. Imports were 366.6 billion U.S. dollars, up 27.9 percent, or 8.8 percentage points more than a year earlier.

Source:Xinhua