PODGORICA: Montenegro’s first-half foreign trade deficit widened by 15.7% on the year to 829.4 million euro ($911.1 million), the statistics office said on Monday. The country’s exports increased by an annual 1% to 145.8 million euro in January-June, while imports jumped 13.2% to 975.1 million euro, the office said in a statement on its website.
In June alone, the trade gap was 167.3 million euro, 4.2% wider on the year, but 9.7% down on the month. Exports fell 14.6% on the year, but rose 11.3% month-on-month, to 30.5 million euro, while imports rose 0.8% year-on-year and fell 7% on the month to 197.8 million euro.
Montenegro’s key export markets in the first half were Serbia (35.3 million euro), Hungary (22.2 million euro), and Italy (10 million euro), while imports into the country came mainly from Serbia (209.7 million euro), Germany (115.3 million euro), and China (95.1 million euro). In 2015, Montenegro’s foreign trade deficit widened by 5% to 1.5 billion euro.
