More good economic news ahead of the Croatian elections.
In the first six months of this year, Croatian exports expressed in kuna have increased by 12.3 percent compared to the same period last year, while imports have increased by 6.3 percent, with the export-import ratio of 60.9 percent, reported on Tuesday the Croatian Bureau of Statistics. In the period from January to the end of June, Croatia has exported goods worth 41.9 billion kuna and imported goods worth 68.9 billion kuna, reports Novi List on September 9, 2015.
Expressed in euros, the Croatian exports of goods in the first six months of this year amounted to 5.5 billion euros and were 12.2 percent higher than during the same period last year, while imports have increased by 6.2 percent to 9.02 billion euros. Foreign trade deficit in the first six months has decreased by 1.8 percent compared to same period last year, to 26.9 billion kuna.
The most important market for Croatian products was the European Union, which represented 67 percent of exports of goods. In the first six months, Croatia exported to the EU countries goods worth 3.7 billion euros, which is 17 percent more than in 2014. At the same time, imports from the EU countries have increased by 10.9 percent to 7.1 billion euros.
The largest foreign trade partner is Italy, which in the first six months of this year imported goods worth 747 million euros, up by 2.9 percent year on year, while imports from Italy rose by 5.1 percent to 1.2 billion. Exports to Slovenia have increased by 22.8 percent to 682.1 million euros, while imports from that country rose by 4.5 percent to 959.6 million euros. The third largest trading partner was Germany.
Among the sectors with significant levels of export, the largest percentage growth was recorded in shipbuilding, by 200.7 percent to 194.9 million euros. The high export growth rates were also achieved in the production of food and manufacturing of leather products and pharmaceutical products.
At the same time, a significant decline in exports was recorded in the production of refined petroleum products, by 14.7 percent, and in the production of metals, by 24 percent.
