Montenegro's trade gap widens 17% y/y in Jan-May

Exports fell by 22% year-on-year to 252 million euro in January-May 2024, while imports rose 8.2% to 1.571 billion euro, the statistics office said in a statement on Thursday.

In May alone, the trade gap shrank to 274 million euro from 281 million euro in May 2023, with exports remaining flat at 47 million euro and imports declining 2% year-on-year to 321 million euro.

In January-May, Montenegro's key export destinations were Serbia, which attracted Montenegrin exports worth 77 million euro, Switzerland with 16.2 million euro, Bosnia and Herzegovina with 15.5 million euro, and Slovenia (14.3 million euro), Poland (13.9 million euro) and the Czech Republic (12.7 million euro).

Imports into Montenegro originated mainly from neighbouring Serbia (260 million euro), followed by China (192 million euro), Germany (163 million euro), Croatia (93 million euro), Italy (88.4 million euro) and Greece (87 million euro).

In 2023, Montenegro’s trade gap widened by 10% to 3.13 billion euro.

($ = 0.935 euro)