Cyprus’ trade deficit at EUR4.1 bln in 8M08, says Eurostat

Cyprus’ trade balance surged to a EUR 4.1 bln deficit in January – August 2008, according to Eurostat. The total value of exports reached EUR 700 mln marking a 7% growth, compared to last year.
Imports marked an increase of 19%, reaching EUR 4.8 bln.
The EU27 energy deficit increased (-253.7 bln euro in January-August 2008 compared with -169.4 bln in January-August 2007), while the surplus for machinery and vehicles rose (+101.7 bln compared with +78.3 bln).
EU27 trade with most of its major partners grew, with the exception of exports to the USA (-5% in January-August 2008 compared with January-August 2007) and Japan (-4%), and imports from South Korea (-8%) and Japan (-4%). The largest increases were recorded for exports to Russia (+24%) and Brazil (+23%), and for imports from Norway (+31%) and Russia (+30%).
The EU27 trade surplus fell with the USA (+42.5 bln in January-August 2008 compared with +52.2 bln in January-August 2007), while it increased with Switzerland (+12.1 bln compared with +10.1 bln). The EU27 trade deficit grew with Russia (-51.7 bln compared with -37.0 bln) and Norway (-34.1 bln compared with -20.4 bln), and remained nearly stable with China (-101.9 bln compared with -101.6 bln) and Japan (-22.0 bln compared with -23.0 bln).
Concerning the total trade of Member States, the largest surplus was observed in Germany (+127.4 bln euro in January-August 2008), followed by the Netherlands (+27.9 bln) and Ireland (+17.2 bln). The United Kingdom (-82.2 bln) registered the largest deficit, followed by Spain (-65.1 bln), France (-44.2 bln) and Greece (-24.0 bln).