The trade deficit reached EUR 5.36 billion since the beginning of the year, a little over the level recorded in the similar period of the last year. This happened even though in July exports continued to grow at a faster pace than imports, according to data from the National Institute for Statistics ISN.
In between January and July, exports grew in Euros by 25 percent compared to the similar period of 2009, reaching EUR 20.56 billion. The growth exceeds the 19.6 percent one registered in imports, which totaled EUR 25.9 billion, INS data shows.
Every month since the beginning of the year exports grew more rapidly than imports but the gap has not been overcome yet. Exports grew by 30.9 percent, while imports by 28 percent.
Most exported and imported products were cars and transport equipments (taking up 42.9 percent of exports and 35.2 percent of imports) and other manufacturing products (34.4 percent of exports and 30.9 percent of imports.)