Croatia's January-August exports amounted to 69.6 billion kuna (€9.4 billion), or up by 3.9 percent compared to the same period in 2017. Over the same period, imports amounted to 115.9 billion kuna (€15.6 billion), or up 6.9 percent year-on-year, the state statistics bureau said on Tuesday.

The foreign trade deficit over the first eight months of 2018 amounted to 46.3 billion kuna (€6.2 billion), or up by 4.8 billion kuna (€653 million) year-on-year, with coverage of imports with exports dropping to 60.0 percent from 61.8 percent in the same period in 2017.

Exports to EU countries totalled 47.5 billion kuna (€6.4 billion), or 9.6 percent up year-on-year. At the same time, exports to countries outside the EU fell by 6.5 percent to 22.1 billion kuna (€3 billion).

The value of commodities imported from EU countries increased by 6.8 percent to 90.5 billion kuna (€12.2 billion). The value of commodities imported from non-EU countries increased by 7.2 percent to 25.4 billion kuna (€3.4 billion).

(€1 = 7.42 kuna)

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