The volume of foreign trade in August was the lowest this year, but exports were nevertheless up 2.3% from the same month a year ago to EUR 1.55bn, and imports increased by 3.5% to EUR 1.63bn.

The trade gap stood at EUR 90.4m with the exports-imports ratio at 94.5%.

Merchandise exports to EU markets in August were up 3.5% year-on-year to EUR 1.17bn, with imports from these countries increasing by 2% to EUR 1.24bn in the same period.

At the same time, exports outside the EU fell by 1.2% to EUR 374m, whereas imports grew by 8.6% to EUR 394.6m.

Exports in the first eight months of the year were up 5% year-on-year to EUR 14.91bn as imports rose by 1.4% to EUR 14.76bn with export-import ratio at 101% and a trade surplus of EUR 146.9m.