
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 17, 1990                   TAG: 9005170640
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/1   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

TRADE DEFICIT RISES

The U.S. trade deficit jumped 38.5 percent to $8.45 billion in March as record exports were offset by the second-highest level of imports, the government reported today.

Despite the widened gap in March, the deficit still was below the average $9 billion monthly imbalance in 1989. And many economists say the gap, which has improved each year since peaking in 1987, should continue to narrow this year.

Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher, noting that the $23.9 billion first-quarter trade deficit was the lowest in more than six years, said in a statement he expects the gap to total less than $100 billion this year. It was $109 billion in 1989.

The Commerce Department said a 4.6 percent increase in exports in March, to $33.28 billion, was offset by a 10 percent gain in imports, to $41.7 billion, second only to the record $41.9 billion set last October.

The trade deficit is the difference between what America imports and what it sells abroad.

The imbalance had narrowed to a revised $6.1 billion in February, the smallest deficit in six years, and was down 34.6 percent from a $9.32 billion gap January. The February gap first was reported to have been $6.49 billion.

Many analysts had been expecting a deficit of about $7.8 billion in March, up from the February level but still well below the $9 billion monthly average last year.

The jump in exports from $31.8 billion was led by automobiles, industrial supplies, and foods, feeds and beverages. It was pulled down by a decline in aircraft shipments, which had boosted the February export level.

Imports were up from $37.9 billion in February, led by automobiles, capital goods, consumer goods and industrial supplies. The 10 percent gain was the largest since a 21.8 percent advance in September 1985.

Oil imports totaled 261 million barrels, up 7.4 percent from February. But prices fell from $19.39 a barrel to $18.18 a barrel in March, making the $4.7 billion import bill virtually the same as the previous month.

by CNB