LJUBLJANA (Slovenia), December 10 (SeeNews) – Slovenia's trade balance turned to a 1.45 billion euro ($1.76 billion) surplus in the first ten months of 2020, from a 201 million euro deficit in the like period of 2019, as imports fell faster than exports, the country's statistical office said on Thursday.
Exports in January-October fell 3.2% on the year to 27.3 billion euro, while imports declined 8.9% to 25.9 billion euro, the statistical office, SURS, said in a statement.
The European Union was Slovenia’s main trading partner in the ten-month period, absorbing 18.2 billion euro of the country's exports and providing 17.7 billion euro of its imports.
In October alone, Slovenia's exports rose 2.1% on the year to 3.16 billion euro, while imports went down 8.5% to 2.94 billion euro, resulting in a 219 million euro trade surplus for the month.
"The value of exports in October 2020 was the highest in the past ten years. While imports increased compared to the previous month, they were still lower than in October 2019, when they were the highest in the past ten years," SURS noted.
"After last year’s October deficit, we recorded surplus this year in October, which stands out as the highest in the past ten years," it added.
In October 2019, the country reported a 103 million euro trade deficit.
($=0.826168 euro)