Friday, 26 September 2014 11:23
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By Economicus
Over the past few months the media and policymakers have been chiming what a good year it is turning out to be for exports.
Much has been made about the 16.8% growth in exports in the first half of this year. That number comes because the first half of 2013 happened to be a bad period for exports.
In 2013, exports in the first half were only $ 4,656 million (see table). That figure is less than the figure for the same period in 2012 ($ 4,880 million) and the figure for 2011 ($ 5,076 million).
If one were to compare the first half of 2014 with that of the first half of 2011, then, the growth in exports is only 7% over three years. See the shaded area at the bottom of the table. That is over the three years, the annual growth rate is approximately 2%.
There is little difference between exports of $ 5,076 million in 2011 and $ 5,439 million in 2014. The con is taken out of the story. Exports haven’t been a major success story this half year up to June 2014.
