Daily Archives: July 7, 2011 @ 12:16 pm (Thursday)

China Foreign Debt Rises to $586 Billion at End of March

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Back door subtraction from reserves:

China Foreign Debt Rises to $586 Billion at End of March

July 7 (Bloomberg) — China’s outstanding overseas borrowing increased to $586 billion at the end of March from $548.9 at the end of last year, according to a statement posted to the website of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

Outstanding medium- and long-term debt was $174.3 billion at the end of March, rising from $173.2 billion at the end of 2010, according to the administration. Short-term debt was $411.7 billion, increasing from $375.7 billion.

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France reports record trade gap in May

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The overall trade picture continues to appear to be ‘deteriorating’ and could be removing fundamental support for the euro.

Yes, German net exports remain firm, but it’s the euro zone as a whole that drives the value of the euro.

And higher prices for imported energy could be hurting the euro zone more than the US, as they import their natural gas as well and pay more for it.

France reports record trade gap in May

July 7 (Xinhua via COMTEX) — Sluggish exports and soaring costs of imported petroleum products drove higher France’s trade deficit to a record of 7.42 billion euros (10.61 billion U.S. dollars) in May, customs figures showed on Thursday.

For the past 12 months, the cumulated trade deficit widened to 63.41 billion euros in total compared to 51.55 billion euros in 2010.

“As in April, the trade deficit exceeded seven billion euros. It worsened due to double effects of surging imports, notably energy, and of sluggish exports …” French customs said in a statement.

The country’s total imports stood at 41.6 billion, up from 41.47 billion euros reported in April as purchases of refined products remained high and imports of natural hydrocarbons grew.

At the end of May, France reported a slight drop in its sales abroad to 34.17 billion euros on the back of lower sales of Airbus.

The giant aero group garnered 1.33 billion euros after selling 21 aircrafts versus 26 worth 1.7 billion euros in April, but during the week-long Paris Airshow in June, Airbus reported record orders for a total of 730 aircraft worth 72.2 billion U.S. dollars.

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