April 26 (SeeNews) - Kosovo's trade deficit increased 8.8% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2017, reaching 533 million euro ($581.5 million), the country's statistical office said.
Exports added 6.2% to 76.4 million euro in the January - March period, while imports increased 8.5% to 609.4 million euro, the statistical office said in a monthly economic report published on Tuesday.
In March alone, Kosovo's trade gap widened 11.2% year-on-year to 233.4 million euro, with exports down 22.3% to 31.3 million euro and imports up 12.4% to 264.7 million euro.
Kosovo's main export destinations in March were Albania, Macedonia and India. Base metals, mineral products, food, beverages and tobacco, as well as plastic products were Kosovo's main export items.
Mineral products, machinery, appliances and electric materials, food, beverages and tobacco, and base metals made up the bulk of Kosovo's imports in March. Most of the imports originated from Serbia, Germany and Turkey.
($ = 0.9166 euro)