Spain’s Jan-Oct trade deficit widens almost four-fold on energy prices

Dec 15 (Reuters) – The soaring cost of energy imports led to a near four-fold widening in Spain’s trade deficit in the first 10 months of 2022 compared with same period a year ago, the industry ministry said on Thursday.

Spain’s deficit for the 10 months totalled 60.29 billion euros ($64.04 billion), against 16.63 billion euros for the same period last year, and was more than double the deficit for the whole of 2021, the ministry said in its monthly report.

Imports between January and October rose 38% from year ago levels to 380.02 billion euros, while exports rose 24% to 319.73 billion euros, the ministry said.

Like many other European countries, Spain is entirely dependent on imports for its oil and gas supplies, and prices have soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The price of imports for energy products rose 67% year-on-year, the ministry said. Excluding energy imports and exports, the trade deficit was 16.38 billion euros.

($1 = 0.9414 euros)

Reporting by Tiago Brandao; Editing by Inti Landauro and Simon Cameron-Moore

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