November 6 (SeeNews) - Macedonia’s trade deficit narrowed by 27.7% on the year to $1.609 billion (1.080 billion euro) in the January-September period, the Macedonian Statistics Office said on Friday.
Macedonia’s exports fell by 39% on the year to $1.95 billion through September, while imports decreased by 33.6% to $3.56 billion, the statistics office said in a statement.
Macedonia’s foreign trade (in billions of U.S. dollars):
|
Jan-Sept'09 |
Jan-Sept'08 |
Exports |
1.950 |
3.140 |
Imports |
3.559 |
5.366 |
Balance |
-1.609 |
-2.226 |
The country of more than two million people exported mainly ferro-nickel, iron, steel products, clothes and oil derivatives through September. It imported mostly crude oil, electricity and motor vehicles.
Macedonia's biggest foreign markets are European Union member states, accounting for 55.9% of its exports, and the Western Balkans, with 37.2%. Most of its imports originate in the EU (52.4%) and developing countries (26.2%). Macedonia’s main trading partners through September were Germany, Serbia, Greece, Italy and Russia with a combined share of 46.0% of the overall trade volume.
($=0.6714 euro)