Caribbean & Central America - January 2012 (ISSN 1741-4458)

El Salvador accumulated a trade deficit of US$4.37bn in the first 11 months of 2011, up 20.9% on the same period in 2010, the central bank announced. Total exports, which amounted to US$4.88bn, were dwarfed by imports of US$9.25bn. Non-traditional products accounted for US$3.22bn of this total. The maquila sector generated US$1.12bn of exports, while traditional products (coffee, sugar and shrimps) accounted for US$543m of exports. Remittances for the first 11 months came to US$3.29bn, up US$181m on last year, but a long way off covering the trade deficit.