	u s commerce  report omits freight costs the commerce department said on that insurance and freight costs for imported goods of billion dlrs were included in the february  deficit of billion dlrs reported on tuesday the department is required by law to wait hours after the initial  report to issue a second report on a customs value basis which eliminates the freight and insurance charges from the cost of imports private sector economists emphasized that the commerce department was not revising down the deficit by billion dlrs but simply presenting the figures on a different basis a report in the washington post caused a stir in the foreign exchanges today because it gave the impression dealers said that the underlying  deficit for february had been revised downward the commerce department would like to have the law changed to permit it to report both sets of figures simultaneously my feeling is the second one is a better report but there s legislation that requires us to delay it two days said robert ortner commerce undersecretary for economic affairs but this has been going on for a long time and no one pays any attention to the second figure the billion dlr february  deficit compared with a revised january deficit of billion dlrs the law requiring a hour delay in publishing the monthly  figure excluding freight and insurance was passed in reportedly the feeling was the first figure which includes customs freight and insurance allowed a better comparison with other countries that reported their  balances on the same basis the second figure which would always be lower by deducting freight and insurance presents the deficit in a more favorable light for the reagan administration ortner said he would like to see the law changed to eliminate the hour delay in reporting the two figures we re considering it he said it s one of those dinosaur laws and i think it s time has come the second figure which would always be lower by deducting freight and insurance presents the deficit in a more favorable light for the reagan administration ortner said he would like to see the law changed to eliminate the hour delay in reporting the two figures we re considering it he said it s one of those dinosaur laws and i think its time has come reuter 
