"No it isn't, the wealth of the nation increases by the value of the goods received"

Not if debt is attached. Short term borrowing may fuel growth. Long term borrowings means a country becomes a consumer. It will have to go into debt to pay for consumption instead of investing in future growth.

An analogy would be buying a house with an interest only mortgage. One day the capital must be repaid. This is a basic economic fact -    apparently not understood by many.
Is not devaluation one of the few steps available to counter a large payment deficit? Why else do it?

Persistent deficits are not uncommon today, with the United States and many other nations running persistent imbalances year after year. Economic theory, however, states that ongoing deficits are unsustainable in the long run and can lead to dangerous levels of debt which can cripple an economy.