In February 2007 the visible trade gap narrowed by Lm25.5 million, implying an overall improvement of Lm13.8 million in the trade gap for the first two months of the year.

Provisional data for international trade shows that the visible trade gap in February 2007 stood at Lm36.5 million, down by Lm25.5 million from the same month of last year.

There was a decrease in imports of Lm20.6 million while exports increased by Lm4.9 million. The shortfall in imports was mainly due to less imports of machinery and transport equipment, and mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials.

Machinery and transport equipment accounted for most of the increase in exports during February 2007 when compared to the same month of last year. From the perspective of the first two months of the year, the visible trade gap narrowed by Lm13.8 million to stand at Lm71.5 million. This came about due to a decrease of Lm14.4 million in imports during this period, with exports decreasing marginally by Lm0.6 million. Higher import values were registered for industrial supplies and consumer goods, but there were decreases in capital goods and fuels. During this period the decrease in exports of machinery and transport equipment was balanced by an increase in exports of miscellaneous manufactured articles.

An analysis of the Total Trade Balance by commodity group indicates that the improvement in the balance for the first two months of 2007 was mainly due to machinery and transport equipment, mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials, and miscellaneous manufactured articles.

The bulk of Malta’s trade flows and consequent deficit continued to be directed to the European Union during the first two months of 2007.