Croatia continued to be Bosnia and Herzegovina's most important trade partner in 2021, a year marked by the end of the recession and recovery from the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, the Foreign Trade Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina (VTK) said on Tuesday.

Head of VTK, Ahmet Egrlic, presented the chamber’s 2021 report in Sarajevo on Tuesday, saying that “trends in the European Union had significantly impacted the recovery of Bosnia’s economy.” The EU is the most significant market for Bosnia’s exporters, and also its main market for commodity imports.

The European Union accounts for 70 percent of Bosnia’s entire foreign trade, and neighboring Croatia ranks first when it comes to volume of trade by individual EU country.

“Trade with Croatia accounts for as much as 5 percent of Bosnia’s GDP, and the value of Bosnia’s exports to the Croatian market increased 34 percent compared from the period before the pandemic,” said VTK vice-president, Vjekoslav Vukovic.

The total value of Bosnia’s foreign exports in 2021 was a little under €7.5 billion, while imports to that country were valued at just over €10 billion.