The Serbian economy exported more in the first six months of this year than in the same period in 2021, but not enough to cover the growing imports, so the deficit is getting bigger.
Serbia’s foreign trade in goods in the first half of this year amounted to about 32 billion euros, which is 38.3 percent more than in the same period in 2021, the Republic Institute of Statistics announced.
The export of goods was worth 13 billion euros, which was enough to achieve a growth of 30.5 percent. In the same period, imports were higher by 44.2 percent and were worth 18.9 billion euros.
In the final balance, the deficit grew to 5.8 billion euros, which is an increase of 89.9 percent compared to the first six months of last year.
That is why it is not surprising that the coverage of imports by exports fell below 70 percent, namely, it amounted to 69.5 percent and is less than the coverage in the same period of the previous year, when it amounted to 76.9 percent.
Expressed in dollars, the foreign trade exchange from January to July amounted to 35 billion dollars, which is a growth of 25.6 percent in ondos for the observed period in 2021. Goods worth 14.4 billion dollars were exported, which is a growth of 18.6 percent, while imports increased by 31.1 percent and amounted to 20.7 billion dollars.
Foreign trade has traditionally been the largest with countries with which Serbia has signed free trade agreements. The member countries of the European Union account for 58.8 percent of the total exchange.
The second most important foreign trade partner of Serbia was the countries of the CEFTA agreement, with which the trade surplus amounted to about 1.3 billion euros, which is mainly the result of the export of oil and oil derivatives, agricultural products (cereals and their products), iron and steel, electrical machines and appliances and beverages.
The main individual foreign trade partners of Serbia in exports were Germany, Italy, BiH, Hungary and China, and in imports China, Germany, Russia, Hungary and Italy.The largest deficit occurs in trade with China (due to the import of telephones for the network of stations and laptops), and the largest surplus was achieved with neighboring countries, namely Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and North Macedonia, Bloomberg Adria writes.
