Record foreign trade surplus for first two months of 2014

Slovakia’s foreign trade posted a surplus of €393.3 million in January of this year which represents a rise of €29.3 million year-on-year, according to a report by the Slovak Statistics Office (ŠÚ) released on April 9. When the figures are broken down, Slovakia recorded the largest surplus with Germany (€525.5 million), the United Kingdom (€255.1 million), Poland (€232.8 million), the Czech Republic (€209 million) and Austria (€166.5 million). Conversely, the largest deficits were measured in trade with Russia (€399.8 million), South Korea (€ 364.4 million, China (€260.2 million), with Japan (€61.4 million) and Ukraine (€27.7 million), the TASR newswire quoted the ŠÚ. Goods worth €5.153 billion were exported from Slovakia in January, with the figure swelling by 6.8 percent on the year. As much as 85.7 percent of Slovakia’s exports were destined for EU countries, and exports rose by 6.8 percent. OECD countries as a whole accounted fo 88.1 percent of Slovakia's exports. Imports to Slovakia reached €4.759 billion in the first month of this year in what was an annual rise of 6.7 percent. Imports from EU countries rose by 9.3 percent on the year, and they accounted for 61.5 percent of total imports. Imports from OECD countries took 57.7 percent of the total.

Slovakia’s foreign trade posted a surplus of €393.3 million in January of this year which represents a rise of €29.3 million year-on-year, according to a report by the Slovak Statistics Office (ŠÚ) released on April 9.

When the figures are broken down, Slovakia recorded the largest surplus with Germany (€525.5 million), the United Kingdom (€255.1 million), Poland (€232.8 million), the Czech Republic (€209 million) and Austria (€166.5 million). Conversely, the largest deficits were measured in trade with Russia (€399.8 million), South Korea (€ 364.4 million, China (€260.2 million), with Japan (€61.4 million) and Ukraine (€27.7 million), the TASR newswire quoted the ŠÚ.

Goods worth €5.153 billion were exported from Slovakia in January, with the figure swelling by 6.8 percent on the year. As much as 85.7 percent of Slovakia’s exports were destined for EU countries, and exports rose by 6.8 percent. OECD countries as a whole accounted fo 88.1 percent of Slovakia's exports. Imports to Slovakia reached €4.759 billion in the first month of this year in what was an annual rise of 6.7 percent. Imports from EU countries rose by 9.3 percent on the year, and they accounted for 61.5 percent of total imports. Imports from OECD countries took 57.7 percent of the total.

In February, Slovak exports amounted to €5.324 billion, thereby rising by 6.2 percent on an annual basis. On the other hand, imports in February went up by 4 percent year-on-year to €4.787 billion. This translated into a surplus of €537.1 million in February, which represents an increase of €125.9 million from February of 2013.

The imports “went back to the average level from the last quarter of 2013, thereby failing to build up on growth seen in the second half of 2013,” said UniCredit Bank analyst Ľubomír Koršňák, as quoted by TASR. Should this trend in imports persist, this could signal that the recovery of domestic demand hasn’t been as robust as previously thought or that there’s a slowdown in the revival of industry in the months ahead.

Exports, for their part, remained significantly above the average level of 4Q13, despite falling by 0.4 percent in current prices from their strong levels measured in January. “Automotive industry exports dropped on a monthly basis, while the rest of the exports grew by as much as 2.3 percent,” said analysts with the Slovakia’s central bank (NBS).

For the first two months of 2014, Slovakia’s foreign trade surplus reached €930.3 million, which is a record surplus for two months, the SITA newswire wrote. For comparison, last year, when for the full year Slovakia posted its historically highest trade surplus, for the first two months it stood at €775.1 million. Unlike in the previous period, imports could be encouraged by recovery of domestic demand.

(Source: TASR, SITA)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.

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