After months of stagnation, exports in October were $3.5 billion more than in September, while imports increased by just $700 million from September.
Which means that if the recovery is going to be sustained for any length of time, business investment has to bounce back after the many long years of stagnation, and exports have to recover.
German exports grew 4.3% last year to over €1tn, according to the federal statistics office, with a more than 10% increase in sales to non-EU countries compensating for stagnation in European exports.
The stagnation of Argentine exports placed an inescapable constraint on the country's growth.
It is true that the stagnation of Argentine exports can be partly attributed to the global closure of markets and to the protectionist policies applied by industrial countries in agriculture that favored self-sufficiency (especially in Europe).
Coincident to this, Brazil's quite remarkable weathering of the world financial crisis was stopped in its tracks by economic stagnation in China, Brazil's major export market, and in Europe.
It has been greatly helped by outside factors: prices for Argentina's farm exports soared after a long period of stagnation (though last month they dipped again).
Crucially, investment follows demand; with the latter collapsing, the former will show little patience for languishing on.This leaves exports as a possible route out of stagnation.
If the Middle East remains a place where freedom does not flourish, it will remain a place of stagnation and anger and violence for export.
If the Middle East was denied democracy much longer, he warned, it would "remain a place of stagnation and anger and violence for export".
"As long as the Middle East remains a place where freedom does not flourish, it will remain a place of stagnation, resentment and violence ready for export.
