TIRANA, Oct 12lbania’s trade deficit widened by 2.7% on the year to 207.52 billion ALL (1.51 billion euro) in the first eight months of 2009, as exports fell faster than imports, the National Statistics Institute, INSTAT, said on Monday.
In August alone Albania’s trade gap was 26.6 billion ALL, INSTAT said in a monthly report.
In the eight months through August, imports decreased by 2.3% on the year to 271.9 billion ALL, while exports fell by 15.5% to 64.4 billion ALL.
European Union member states accounted for 78.6% of Albania’s exports through August and 64.3% of its imports. Italy and Greece were Albania’s main trading partners in the eight months through August.
Textile and footwear were Albania’s main export items with a share of 49% of the total through August. Minerals and fuels ranked second with a 18.6% share, followed by construction materials and metals with 11.9%.
Albania imported mostly machines, equipment and spare parts, which accounted for 23.5% of all imports. Food, beverages and tobacco products came second with 17.6%.
TRADE BALANCE (in billions of ALL):
8-mo’09 8-mo’08 Aug’09 Aug’08
Imports 271.882 278.275 33.726 35.550
Exports 64.365 76.190 7.145 7.741
Balance -207.517 -202.085 -26.581 -27.809
Albania ended 2008 with a trade deficit of 327.32 billion ALL, 17.3% higher on the year.
