Preliminary figures show that Malta registered a trade deficit of €366.6 million in January 2017, up by €206.1 million from €160.5 million in the corresponding month of 2016, the National Statistics Office said today.

Both imports and exports increased by €233.5 million and €27.4 million respectively.

The increase in the value of imports was primarily due to mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€147.7 million), and machinery and transport equipment (€79.6 million). Regarding exports, mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials accounted for the main increase (€40.4 million).

Malta’s trade imports from the European Union reached €239.1 million, or 40.4 per cent of total imports. There was an increase of €40.2 million in imports from euro area countries when compared to the same month in 2016.

Main increases and decreases in imports were registered from Singapore (€82.4 million) and Germany (€4.5 million) respectively. On the export side the main increase was directed to the United States of America (€5.3 million), whereas Germany (€6.6 million) registered the highest decrease.

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