MAT: Foreign trade deficit in May record-breaking 1.1 billion euros

In May this year, Serbia had the highest monthly foreign trade deficit of 1.141 billion euros, experts said in the published monthly magazine Makroekonomske analize i trendovi (Macroeconomic Analyses and Trends – MAT).

The level of the coverage of import by export also decreased, from an average of 76 percent in 2021 to 73 percent in January this year and to an average of 68 percent in February-May.

„The foreign trade deficit, which averaged 582 million euros per month in 2021, did not drop below one billion euros in the last three months, and in May this year the absolute highest monthly deficit in the amount of 1.141 billion euros was achieved,“ says MAT.

Triple spike in energy import

The fastest growing trend is that of energy import, which in May 2022 reached almost three times the average of the previous year, followed by the trends of the import of intermediate products (33 percent), capital products (26 percent) and durable and nondurable consumer products (16 percent each).

The increase in the value of the export in the first five months this year primarily refers to the increase in the value of the export of metal ores (EUR 610 million), the production of basic metals (328), food industry (242), chemical industry (248), rubber and plastics industry (156), coke and petroleum products (152), electrical equipment (128), unspecified machinery and equipment (104), paper production (EUR 93 million).

Izvor: Beta

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