0 A country's trade figures are a record of how much the country has paid for goods that it has bought from other countries, compared with how much it has been paid for goods that it has sold to other countries:
1 the value of a country's exports and imports in a particular period:
Though they maintained (and in some years increased) their general level, trade figures remained unremarkable and subject to high degrees of fluctuation.
However, clothing exports continued to increase, even allowing for the fact that trade figures (which express imports and exports in sterling value terms) ignore inflation.
I do not believe that the assertion that the exchange rate is too high is borne out by the trade figures.
There are already signs that we are making useful progress in this direction, and recent trade figures have been encouraging.
I have looked up the trade figures and have seen how this money has been spent, on luxury motor cars, cosmetics and so on.
We want the overseas trade figures broken down into companies' returns.
Although these circumstances change rapidly they do not change as rapidly as that, and one month's trade figures, while interesting, are not always significant.
With today's trade figures, we are reminded also of the need to look again at the possibilities of import saving.
