US trade deficit set record in November

The United States trade deficit in goods widened to a record in November as imports increased and exports fell.

The Commerce Department reported yesterday that the goods trade deficit widened 17.5% last month to about $97.8 billion from $83.2 billion in October.

This has surpassed the previous record gap of $97 billion in September.

In comparison to the previous month, exports of goods decreased by 2.1%, while imports increased by 4.7 percent.

In its annual comparison, exports varied by 22%, reaching $154,600 million in November 2021.

Whereas on the import side, the variation was 19% to 252,433 million in the same period.

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The report also showed that wholesale inventories grew by 1.2% last month, while retail inventories grew by 2 percent. Excluding automobiles, the retail inventory grew by 1.3 per cent.

The business sector has been putting pressure on that country’s GDP growth for five consecutive quarters.

In the period from July to August 2021, the US economy grew at an annual rate of 2.3%, representing a decrease compared to 6.7% growth in the second quarter and 6.3% in the first; However, activity has improved in the last quarter of the year.

energetic soars

German import prices had the biggest jump in 48 years

The Federal Statistics Office said on Thursday that prices for goods imported into Germany rose 24.7% in November compared to the same month a year earlier.

Germany has seen the biggest jump in import prices since the 1974 oil embargo, sparked by a conflict in the Middle East, reports the DW news portal.

The growth exceeded analysts’ forecasts, which stood at 22.3% and is in addition to annual growth of 21.7% in October and 17.7% in September.

Monthly advances were 3%, which, although high, is lower than the 3.8% registered from September to October.

The surge comes as the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc on global trade and supply chains.

Imported energy has shown the highest increase over the last year, which is 160%.

Import prices for natural gas nearly quadrupled, while prices for crude oil and petroleum products also doubled.

Power is up 360% compared to a year ago.