With the decline in the cost of goods exported to the USA in December, the goods trade deficit grew above expectations and gave a deficit for the fourth consecutive month.
According to data released by the Ministry of Commerce on Thursday, the deficit grew by 8.8 percent last month to $90.3 billion. Unadjusted for inflation, the numbers came in better than the $87.9 billion expected in a Bloomberg poll of economists amid economists.
While imports increased by 1.9 percent to $257.1 billion, exports reached $166.8 billion with 1.6 percent, the lowest level since February.
Goods orders in the US rose more-than-expected in December last year, up 5.6 percent month-on-month.
In another information released by the Ministry of Commerce, it announced the numbers of solid goods orders for December 2022.
Accordingly, orders for solid goods amounted to $286.9 billion in December, up 5.6 percent compared to the previous month. Strong goods orders, which increased in 4 of the last 5 months, were expected to increase by 2.5 percent in this period.
Orders for durable goods decreased by 1.7 percent to $271.6 billion in November last year.
Orders for transportation equipment increased 16.7 percent in December 2022. While orders excluding transportation decreased by 0.1 percent in the same period, orders excluding defense increased by 6.3 percent.
Orders for durable consumer goods, consisting of works with a life span of at least 3 years, are valuable in terms of providing information on industrial production.
