TIRANA, Sept. 17 /ATA/ – Albania’s goods exports rose 1.6% year-on-year to 20.5 billion leks in August, while imports increased 12.6% to 75.6 billion leks, data from the National Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) showed on Thursday.

Compared with July, exports fell 39% and imports declined 12.6%.

The trade deficit widened 17.4% year-on-year to 55 billion leks in August and increased 4.3% from the previous month.

The annual rise in exports was driven mainly by construction materials and metals, and food, beverages and tobacco, each contributing 1.3 percentage points, while minerals, fuels and electricity contributed 0.7 percentage points.

Textiles and footwear had a negative contribution of 2.9 percentage points, while chemicals and plastics reduced export growth by 0.6 percentage points.

The increase in imports was led by machinery, equipment and spare parts, contributing 4.8 percentage points, followed by minerals, fuels and electricity with 3.5 points and construction materials and metals with 1.8 points.

Italy recorded the largest increase among Albania’s export markets, at 5%, followed by Kosovo at 1.5%. Exports to Türkiye fell 54.1%, while those to North Macedonia declined 5.6%.

On the import side, purchases from China rose 16.9% and those from Italy increased 2.2%, while imports from Greece fell 3.4% and those from Germany declined 3.6%.

Trade with European Union countries accounted for 46.2% of Albania’s total trade. EU countries accounted for 63.1% of Albania’s exports and 41.6% of its imports.

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