diff --git a/doc/dynare.texi b/doc/dynare.texi
index d2d751057..4c2b2efe9 100644
--- a/doc/dynare.texi
+++ b/doc/dynare.texi
@@ -3961,7 +3961,7 @@ graphs of smoothed shocks, smoothed observation errors, smoothed and historical
 
 @item datafile = @var{FILENAME}
 @anchor{datafile}
-The datafile: a @file{.m} file, a @file{.mat} file or, a
+The datafile: a @file{.m} file, a @file{.mat} file, a @file{.csv} file, or a
 @file{.xls}/@file{.xlsx} file (the latter format is supported under Octave
 if the @uref{http://octave.sourceforge.net/io/,io} and
 @uref{http://octave.sourceforge.net/java/,java} packages from
diff --git a/matlab/read_variables.m b/matlab/read_variables.m
index 20a8638e8..ed33e1bb7 100644
--- a/matlab/read_variables.m
+++ b/matlab/read_variables.m
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ function dyn_data_01=read_variables(file_name_01,var_names_01,dyn_data_01,xls_sh
 % all local variables have complicated names in order to avoid name
 % conflicts with possible user variable names
 
-% Copyright (C) 2005-2012 Dynare Team
+% Copyright (C) 2005-2013 Dynare Team
 %
 % This file is part of Dynare.
 %
@@ -54,8 +54,10 @@ if isempty(extension)
         extension = '.xls';
     elseif exist([basename '.xlsx'],'file')
         extension = '.xlsx';
+    elseif exist([basename '.csv'],'file')
+        extension = '.csv';
     else
-        error(['Can''t find datafile: ' basename '.{m,mat,xls,xlsx}']);
+        error(['Can''t find datafile: ' basename '.{m,mat,xls,xlsx,csv}']);
     end
 end