THE Government has welcomed yesterday's trade figures from the Central Statistics Office which showed a rise in Ireland's trade surplus last year from £7.21 billion to £7.34 billion. The value of exports rose last year from £27.82 billion to over £30 billion while imports grew from £20.6 billion to £22.35 billion, the CSO said.

Trade figures for January continued the pattern with the trade surplus rising from £604 million in December to £850 million in January. The January surplus was, however, slightly down on the £912 million trade surplus in January 1996.

"Both the figures for total exports and trade surplus are records and they further underline the present outstanding health of our economy," the Minister for Trade and Tourism, Mr Kenny stated.

"While I welcome the huge contribution to our economy which is being made by IDA attracted firms, the Government's export promotion focus will continue to be on indigenous firms, especially SME's, which have their own star performers but where the exporting base needs to be broadened," said Mr Kenny.