September 9 (SeeNews) - Romania's trade gap widened to 5.11 billion euro ($5.76 billion) for the first seven months of the year from 3.94 billion euro in the same period last year, as imports grew faster than exports, the country's statistics office, INS, said on Friday.
Exports rose by 2.9% on the year to 32.9 billion euro, while imports increased 5.8% to 38.1 billion euro, INS said in a statement.
Machinery and transport equipment accounted for 47.4% of exports and 37.7% of imports, while other manufactured goods made up 33.2% of exports and 31.4% of imports.
The European Union was Romania's main trading partner in the seven months through July, accounting for 75.5% of imports into the country and for 77.7% of its exports.
In July alone, Romania's exports fell by 4.6% on the year, while imports decreased by 4.1%.
In 2015, Romania's trade gap widened by 2.3 billion euro to 8.36 billion euro.
($= 0.8868 euro)