The Diplomat
The Spanish Exporters and Investors Club welcomes the dynamism maintained by the Spanish foreign trade sector, which recorded an increase of 14.6% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022, reaching 102,683.9 million euros.
However, the organisation points out in a statement that it is concerned about the slowdown in the global economy, which could end up affecting the balance of Spanish exports in the remainder of the year. “This has already been noted in the first quarter, as our exports increased in volume by only 3.5%,” it warns.
The Exporters’ Club highlights as positive data from the foreign trade figures released on Thursday, the reduction in the trade deficit, which stood at 6,578.3 million euros, when a year ago it rose to 15,416.5 million. It also appreciates that the non-energy balance in the first quarter showed a surplus of 1,639.3 million euros, compared to a deficit of 4,364.1 million euros in the same period of 2022.
The Club also considers that a sign of the dynamism of Spanish exports, and of the effort of companies to increase their sales in foreign markets, is the greater intensity of their growth compared to the euro zone (7.7%) and the European Union-27 (8.2%). Likewise, Spanish exports are growing faster than those of Germany (7.8%), France (9.5%) and Italy (9.8%). They are also growing faster than those of the United Kingdom (13.9% year-on-year), the United States (6.5%), China (8.4%) and Japan (4.8%).
Despite the good data harvested by the foreign sector in the first quarter of 2023, the Exporters’ Club believes that it is still too early to draw significant conclusions about how exports may evolve in the remainder of the year.
Thus, it expresses its caution due to the fact that the GDP of many countries is either decreasing or not growing, there is uncertainty and the increase in interest rates is causing a reduction in economic activity in the rest of the world.
For this reason, the Exporters’ Club insists on the need to adopt business support measures that provide stability and certainty and that reduce the tax burden on companies and encourage investment.
The organisation recommends increasing Spain’s export base by making it easier for companies to increase their size. “The fact that, for the last 25 years, 67% of exports have been concentrated in just 1,000 companies may represent a major risk for our economy”, they warn.
Finally, the Club calls for the strengthening of intelligence systems in companies and administrations in order to anticipate possible risk situations.
