a Italian economic circles are increasingly concerned about the deterioration in the trade balance ot Italy. Fisures just released by the government show that at the end of the first half of 1963 the gap in the trade balance marked an 87.2% increase compared with the same period of 1962, reaching an amount of 740,000 million lire (epprox.£425.3 millions), This deteriorstion was the consequence of a 24.2% increase in imports while exports only increased by 6.5% as compared with the same period last year,
One of the causesof this is the competition suffered by Italian industry from Common Market partners and U.5. and British industries, About one-third of Italy's foreign trade is at present concentrated in the Common Market area (32% of imports and 35% of exports), tat in tho last two years the increase in exports toward that area dropped, while imports from it continued to climb up,
Another important cause of tho deterioration in the trade balance is the serious agricultural crisis, which has been agsraveted by Italy's entry into the Common Market and by consequent competition from other partners. In the first four months of 1963, Italian agricultural export dropped by 9.7%, while the import of agricultural produce increases by 25.2%.