Imports are probably slowing from their very high growth rate in the second half of last year, but not by much according to the March quarter figures. Over the course of 1998, we still expect them to show their usual behaviour, that is to grow by a few percentage points faster than domestic demand.
Exports, on the other hand, cannot hope to keep up last year’s pace of 8½ per cent, and a small positive figure is probably what we can expect. Most of our exports - our rural products and metals and minerals - are sold into worldwide, rather than country-specific, markets.