Fewer exports in Dec. 2007

TIRANA, Feb. 2 – The Institute of Statistics reported fewer exports and higher imports for the month of December 2007, which has caused an increase in the commercial gap.
During December 2007 there were 6,668 million leks of commodities exported, a decrease of 1.8 percent compared with December 2006 and 27 percent less than the previous month.
There were 34,654 million leks of commodities imported, or an increase of 14 percent compared to Dec. 06 or 10.1 percent less than November 2007.
The trade deficit was 27,986 million leks, 4.9 percent less than November 2007 or 18.6 percent higher than December 2006.
Trade with the EU countries covered 67.6 percent of the total and the main trade partners remained Italy and Greece. With Italy, the export was 86.1 percent and the import 46 percent, while with Greece the export was 8.7 percent and the import 23.7 percent.
Some of the partner countries with which Albania showed increases in exports were Switzerland and Spain, while countries with increased imports were Austria, Great Britain, and China.