Macedonia’s foreign trade gap totalled $610.85mn in January-April, slightly widening against $603.89mn in January-April 2016, according to preliminary data released by the statistics office on June 5.
However, the trade balance of goods in Macedonia is expected to slow down to 19% of GDP in 2017 from 19.7% of GDP in 2016.
According to the newest State Statistical Office data, expressed in US dollar terms, exports increased by 8.4% y/y in the first four months to $1.63bn, while imports grew by 12.9% y/y to over $2.24bn.
In April alone, exports jumped to $416.77mn, from $403.71mn in April 2016 even though they went slightly down from $454.2mn in March.
Meanwhile, in the fourth month of the year, Macedonia’s imports amounted at $579.37mn, decreasing from $595.85mn in April 2016 and $634.2m in March.
In the period January-April , according to the total external trade volume, the most important foreign trade partners of Macedonia were Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria.
The import coverage of exports was 72.7% in January-April.
In 2016, Macedonia’s foreign trade gap increased by 3.1% y/y to $1.97bn.