Colombia says imports in February climb 35.2%

Colombian imports surged 35.2% in February from the same month a year earlier, fueled by car purchases, the government’s statistics office said Friday.

Imports to Colombia in the first two months of the year climbed 37.4% to $7.54 billion, the government said. The figure continues a trend of higher imports as the Colombian economy continues to expand boosted by high domestic demand and household consumption. Imports for the full year of 2010 climbed 23.7% to $40.7 billion.

The surge in February was driven by car purchases abroad, which jumped 75% to $433 million.

Colombia posted a trade surplus of $362 million in February. For the first two months of the year, Colombia has posted a surplus of $593.3 million compared to a similar surplus of $572.5 million in the same period in 2010.

(Darcy Crowe, Dow Jones)

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