OREANDA-NEWS. February 11, 2010. CBR released data that reported December exports at USD 34.4bn and imports at USD 21.6bn., reported the press-centre of OTKRITIE Financial Corporation.

View: The export figure of US 95.8bn for 4Q09 was +0.7% higher than the BoP assessment’s initial estimate, while the US 60.3bn in imports posted were 1.4% lower.

On a positive note, the imports results for both 3Q09 and 4Q09 were 16% above the figures for the corresponding periods of 2006, whereas the economy has demonstrated a very strong ~4% seasonally adjusted QoQ growth.

This moderate imports growth eases our concern regarding the ability of local producers to become the principal beneficiaries of the recovery in demand.