On the basis of preliminary estimates for foreign trade in January 2015, total imports and arrivals reached €352.3 million, of which €255.3 million were arrivals from other member states of EU and €97.0 million were imports from third countries, the statistical service Cystat said.

It added that total exports/dispatches reached €257.5 million of which €213.2 million were dispatches to other member states of EU and €44.3 million exports to third countries.

In an earlier report, the trade deficit for the whole of 2014 widened to €3.69 billion compared to €3.22 billion in the year before, with imports continuing to rise and exports steadily falling.

The foreign trade statistics report for December by Cystat showed total imports/arrivals in January-December 2014 amounted to €5.13 billion compared to €4.83 billion in the year-earlier period.

Total exports/dispatches reached €1.44 billion compared to €1.61 billion in January-December 2013.

Cystat said that during December 2014 total imports/arrivals were valued at €379.9 million while total exports/dispatches reached €111.7 million. Exports/dispatches of domestically produced goods, including stores and provisions, were €57 million, whilst exports/dispatches of foreign goods, including stores and provisions, were €54.7 million.

Source: Financial Mirror