Belarusian trade surplus at $653 mln in 8M compared with deficit last year
MINSK. Oct 8 (Interfax) - Belarus had a trade surplus of $652.8 million in the first eight months of 2014 compared with a trade deficit of $839.6 million in the same period last year, the National Bank reported.
Belarus narrowed the merchandise trade deficit 78% to $469.6 million. The trade surplus in services declined 15.1% to $1.12 billion in the eight months.
Trade in merchandise and services fell 3.3% to $58.58 billion in January-August, including $49.93 billion for merchandise trade (down 4.8% year-on-year) and $8.66 billion for services (up 5.8%).
Exports of merchandise and services declined 0.9% to $29.62 billion, including $24.73 billion for merchandise (down 1.7%) and $4.89 billion for services (up 2.9%). Imports dropped 5.8% to $28.96 billion, including $25.2 billion for merchandise (down 7.7%) and $3.77 billion for services (up 9.8%).
The National Bank said that the trade balance for merchandise and services in August was positive and amounted to $139.7 million.
In July, the trade balance was negative at $9.3 million.
For the 8M the highest surplus in the trade of merchandise and services was observed in June - $210.4, the maximum deficit was registered in April at $77.8 million. The regulator's statistics said that a trade surplus was observed in January-March, June and in August.
Belarus had a trade deficit of $1.724 billion in 2013, compared with a surplus of $3.023 billion in 2012.
A surplus of $105 million, 0.1% of forecast GDP, is being targeted by the Belarusian Economic Ministry this year. Exports of goods and services are slated to rise 6.9%.
