By Hilary Burke for Reuters.com
(Reuters) - Argentina's February trade surplus beat market expectations and industrial output rose sharply again, the government said on Wednesday, showing Latin America's No. 3 economy is still growing strong.
Argentina's economy expanded at a quick 9.2 percent last year, driven by robust consumer spending, lucrative grains exports and industrial production.
Imports had been growing at double the rate of exports in recent months due to avid domestic demand and the local currency's appreciation against the dollar in real terms -- cutting into the government's cherished trade surplus.
But February's trade surplus bucked the trend, widening 0.7 percent from a year earlier to $608 million.
This was well above the median forecast of $310 million given in a Reuters poll of 12 analysts and marked a significant improvement over January, when the surplus shrank 58 percent year-on-year, and December's 80 percent plunge.
In February, exports grew 33 percent from the same month last year, compared with 22 percent in January. Import growth slowed to 39 percent from 52 percent in January.
"The increase in exports is due to three factors Read full article
