Cape Verde Trade Balance Improves: Export Growth & Lower Costs
Cape Verde’s economic outlook received a boost in 2025 as the costs of imported goods dropped while the value of national exports climbed, according to data released Wednesday by the National Statistics Institute (INE).
Favorable Shifts in Foreign Trade
In a positive development for the archipelago’s trade balance, the Foreign Trade Price Index revealed that import prices fell by 6.7% year-on-year. Simultaneously, the value of Cape Verdean exports rose by 7.2% compared to 2024. These shifts resulted in a 15% increase in the “Terms of Trade Index,” a key metric that measures how many imports a country can purchase with a single unit of its exports.
The Growing Import-Export Gap
Despite the decrease in unit costs for imported products, Cape Verde’s total expenditure on foreign goods continued to rise. The total import bill grew by 9% in 2025, reaching 110 billion escudos (approximately €1 billion). This reflects a high domestic demand that outweighed the benefit of lower prices.
On the export side, the country saw a significant surge in earnings. Revenue from exports jumped 18% to 9.3 billion escudos (€84 million), largely driven by the sale of processed fish to Spain. However, a stark trade imbalance remains: the total value of the country’s exports still represents less than one-tenth of what it spends on imports.
The Tourism Factor
While the current figures highlight a deficit in the trade of physical goods, they do not yet account for the country’s most powerful economic engine: services. Data from the Central Bank of Cape Verde (BCV) typically includes service exports such as tourism, which is expected to bridge much of the gap in the foreign trade deficit. Full annual figures for the tourism sector are expected to be integrated in forthcoming reports.
Image: Pexels – Wolfgang Weiser
