Exports increased in the first nine months of the year by 21.7 percent (up to EUR 54.5 billion), but imports advanced, in the same period, by 23.2 percent (up to EUR 71.2 billion), the trade deficit being almost EUR 3.7 billion higher than in the same period last year.
At a rate where the trade deficit has risen, it will reach EUR 21-22 billion in December, compared to EUR 18.4 billion in 2020 or EUR 17.3 billion in 2019. This is a figure that would close to that of 2008, in the previous economic crisis, when the deficit reached EUR 23.5 billion.
