In January 2016, Malta’s trade deficit narrowed by €7.9 million compared to the corresponding month of 2015, the National Statistics Office said today.

“Provisional data for international trade show that the trade deficit in January 2016 stood at €104.5 million, down by €7.9 million when compared to the corresponding month in 2015. Both imports and exports decreased by €120.5 million and €112.6 million respectively.

The decrease in the value of imports was primarily due to mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€93.8 million). Likewise, the same commodity group accounted for the main decrease in exports (€99.8 million).

Malta’s trade imports from the European Union reached €187.0 million, or 63.2 per cent of total imports. There was a decrease of €13.9 million in imports from euro area countries when compared to the same period in 2015.

Main increases and decreases in imports were registered from Germany (€4.4 million) and the United States of America (€47.2 million) respectively. On the export side the main increase was directed to France (€9.1 million), whereas Egypt (€54.1 million) registered the highest decrease.