Cyprus records a whopping trade deficit of 36% of GDP in 2008

Revised data for December show that Cyprus recorded a huge trade deficit of EUR 6.2 bln, or 35% of GDP in 2008, owing to a large increase in imports as oil prices soared.
Total imports/arrivals in January-December 2008 amounted to EUR 7,349.0 mln, a rise of 15.7% compared with EUR 6,353.4 mln in January-December 2007.
Total exports/dispatches in January-December 2008 amounted to EUR 1,167.4 mln, a rise of 7.8% compared with EUR 1,082.7 mln in January-December 2007.
The trade deficit was therefore EUR 6,181.7 mln in January-December 2008 compared with EUR 5,270.8 mln in January- December 2007.
In December alone, total imports/arrivals reached EUR 502.5 mln and total exports/dispatches reached EUR 90.4 mln.
Εxports/dispatches of domestically produced goods, including stores and provisions, amounted to EUR 46.0 mln in December, while exports/dispatches of foreign goods, including stores and provisions, reached EUR 44.4 mln.

Provisional figures for January

Meanwhile, on the basis of preliminary estimates for foreign trade in January 2009, total imports/ arrivals reached EUR 413.8 mln, of which EUR 287.5 mln were arrivals from other member states of the EU and EUR 126.3 mln were imports from third countries.
Total exports/dispatches amounted to EUR 63.5 mln, of which EUR 42.2 mln were dispatches to other member states of the EU and EUR 21.3 mln were exports to third countries.
The provisional trade deficit for January was therefore EUR 350.3 mln.