BRATISLAVA, November 9, (WEBNOVINY) — Slovakia’s trade balance in August posted a surplus of EUR 194.4 million. The Statistics Office of the Slovak Republic revised upward the original trade balance figure for the eighth month by EUR 33.8 million. In August, total exports went up 14.5 percent y/y to EUR 4.416 billion. Imports swelled 2.7 percent to EUR 4.221 billion as of late August. According to the revised data, the January-August trade balance was positive EUR 1.209 billion.
Slovakia had the highest active balance with Austria of EUR 1.763 billion in the January-August period. Next was Germany with EUR 1.597 billion and the Czech Republic with a surplus of EUR 1.445 billion. On the other hand, Slovakia reported the widest trade gap with the Russian Federation of EUR 2.797 billion.
Goods worth EUR 36.331 billion were exported from Slovakia in the eight-month period, up 19.2 percent y/y. Considering the structure of goods, exports of passenger cars and other vehicles for passenger transport swelled the most, by EUR 1.225 billion. On the contrary, exports of monitors, projectors, and TV sets dropped the most, by EUR 368.3 million.
In the monitored period, goods worth EUR 35.122 billion were imported to Slovakia, up 16.4 percent y/y. With regard to the structure of imported goods, imports of crude oils and oils from raw bitumen minerals swelled by EUR 748.5 million, while imports of motor vehicle parts, components and accessories grew by EUR 621.6 million. Imports of components of devices for transmission of radio or TV broadcasting fell by EUR 873.4 million.
Based on preliminary data, the monthly trade surplus in September was EUR 396.6 million. In the same period a year ago, the trade surplus reached EUR 19.2 million. The overall cumulative surplus since the beginning of the year grew to EUR 1.605 billion, while in the same period a year ago the surplus was a little higher than EUR 300 million.
In spite of the positive overall trade balance, the growth pace of both imports and exports decelerated in September. The volume of exports rose 9.7 percent y/y to EUR 4.999 billion. The growth dynamics of imports fell for the fourth straight month. In September imports went up by 1.4 percent to EUR 4.603 billion.
SITA
