Exports have grown much faster than imports.
Croatian exports of goods grew in the first two months of this year by 19.12 percent compared to the same period last year, while imports increased by 7.4 percent, according to data published on Friday by the Central Bureau of Statistics, reports Novi List on April 7, 2017.
The report shows that, in the first two months of this year, Croatia exported to foreign markets goods worth a total of 15.45 billion kuna, which is 19.12 percent more than in the first two months of 2016. At the same time, the value of imports rose by 7.4 percent to 22.96 billion kuna.
As a result of such developments, the initial data show that Croatia’s trade deficit at the end of February decreased on an annual basis by 10.69 percent, to 7.5 billion kuna, while the export-import ratio rose by 6.6 percentage points – from last year's 60.7 percent to 67.3 percent at the end of February this year.
The strong growth of total exports of goods in the first two months of this year was primarily due to a jump in exports to countries that are not members of the European Union, by as much as 31.12 percent, to 5.45 billion kuna. However, there was also a significant increase, by 13.45 percent, in Croatian exports to other EU member states, to almost 10 billion kuna.
Imports from other EU member states grew in the first two months of this year by 3.67 percent, to almost 18.2 billion kuna, while from non-EU countries Croatia imported goods worth 4.7 billion kuna, or 24.48 percent more than in the first two months of last year.
The Central Bureau of Statistics also published on Friday the final data on foreign trade in January this year, which show even higher growth rates that initially reported. The initial data claimed that goods exports in January were 26.6 percent higher than in January last year, and that imports grew by 9.9 percent. The latest data, however, show the growth of exports by 28.4 percent to 7.5 billion kuna, and the growth of imports by 14.6 percent to 11.19 billion kuna.
