Cape Verde’s imports rose 25.5 percent in 2022, whilst exports fell 3 percent from the previous year, the National Statistics Institute (INE) said on Tuesday.
According to provisional foreign trade data, in 2022 Cape Verde’s exports totaled PTE 5.016 billion (’45 million), a decrease of PTE 153 billion (3.0%) compared to the same period of the previous year.
In the year under study, Europe remained Cape Verde’s main customer, absorbing 93.8% of the country’s total exports, a slight increase over the previous year, which was 92.1%.
Compared to the previous year, INE noted a decrease in Cape Verde’s exports to all continents, with the exception of Asia/Oceania.
In terms of the countries with which Cape Verde maintains trade relations, the study found that Spain led the ranking of Cape Verde’s main customers in the European economic zone, accounting for 54.7% of Cape Verdean exports, a drop of 7.7 percentage points compared to 2021.
It is followed by Portugal, with 19.3%, increasing 3.7 percentage points, Italy is in third position, with 18.8%, the United States of America, in fourth place, recorded a decrease of 2.1 percentage points (7.3 to 5.2%).
Prepared and preserved foods (70%), clothing (10.7%) and footwear in third position (5.9%) were the main products exported by Cape Verde during 2022, still according to INE.
“These three products accounted for 86.5 percent of total exports from Cabo Verde, increasing by about 0.9 percentage points compared to that recorded (85.6 percent) in the year 2021,” the Cape Verdean institute explained.
In terms of imports, last year they increased by 25.5 percent and the European continent, despite having lost 3.9 percentage points, remained the main supplier of Cabo Verde, accounting for 67.8 percent of the total (compared to 71.7 percent last year).