In May Slovakia’s foreign trade was EUR 105 million less than projected by analysts, thanks mainly to higher imports, said VUB bank analyst, Martin Lenko, on Monday. He added that faster growth in imports than exports would probably lead to a EUR 36 million deficit in June.
The Slovak Statistical Office reported that the foreign trade surplus was down EUR 53.6 million year-on-year to reach EUR 83.4 million. Lenko said the downturn was mainly due to faster import growth – up 33 percent compared to 12 percent in 1Q 2010. Surprisingly, the figures for exports accelerated as well, at 29.7 percent compared to 18.4 percent a year earlier, which was not enough to counteract the speed of growth in imports, however.