A 16-percent increase in Samoa's export earnings for the month of June has been attributed to a surge in earnings from fresh fish, beer, nonu juice, taro vegetables and coconuts.
The Central Bank of Samoa's latest statistics show total export revenues for the month amounted to 1-point-82 million US dollars.
This is a 19-percent increase over the export earnings for June last year.
Despite the positive growth in export earnings, the merchandise trade deficit widened 8-percent to 21-point-05 million US dollars.
This was due to a substantial increase in imports.
The total value of imports jumped 9-percent to 22-point-8 million US dollars in June 2007 reflecting a substantial increase in petroleum products imports which amounted to around 6 million US dollars.
