1.   Until now, fostering economic growth through export expansion has been the easiest and safest thing to do politically.

2.   It was the fourth time in five months that import growth exceeded export expansion.

3.   It was the third consecutive month that import growth has exceeded export expansion.

4.   It was the third month in a row that import growth has exceeded export expansion.

5.   That may not be so easy with a tight fiscal policy squeezing domestic demand and a potential international slowdown curtailing export expansion.

6.   Slow export expansion has prompted worries among economic planners that years of export-led growth may be over.