BiH Exports Worth BAM 5.83 Billion in First Half of 2018

The Council of Ministers of BiH, upon the proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, adopted the Analysis of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Foreign Trade Exchange for the period January – June 2018. According to the Information, exports from BiH in this period amounted to BAM 5.83 billion, an increase of over BAM 600 million or about 12% compared to the same period in 2017.

The total volume of foreign trade exchange for the first half of this year amounted to BAM 15.7 billion, an increase of 10% compared to the same period last year. The export-import coverage ratio increased by two percent.

The foreign trade deficit amounted to BAM 3.50 billion, which is two percent more than in the same period of 2017. In this period, goods worth BAM 9.43 billion were imported, which is eight percent more than in the same period of the previous year.

The European Union remains our main foreign trade partner, participating with 65% in the total trade volume, followed by countries signatories to the "CEFTA 2006" agreement with 13%, while other countries account for 22%.

Exports to the European Union account for 73% of total BiH exports, and imports from EU countries account for 60% of total BiH imports. In this period, a 10% decrease in the trade deficit and a 13.5% increase in exports to this market were recorded compared to the same period of the previous year.

Among the main trading partners, Bosnia and Herzegovina has the highest export-import coverage with Austria (145%), Slovenia (113%), Croatia (81%), Germany (77%), Hungary (64%), Italy (62%), Serbia (57%), and Turkey (45%). In addition to these countries, significant trading partners of BiH are the USA, Russia, and China, but the export-import coverage with these countries is low, at 12% with the USA, 9% with Russia, and 3% with China.

In the first half of this year, BiH exported the most to Germany, Croatia, Italy, Serbia, Slovenia, Austria, Montenegro, and Turkey.