Slovakia Posted Trade Balance Surplus of almost €293 million in April

Bratislava, June 9 (TASR) - Slovakia saw a trade balance surplus of almost €293 million in April, according to a preliminary report for April 2023 published by the Statistics Office on Friday. In the same period of last year the country recorded a deficit reaching over €516 million. The positive result can chiefly be ascribed to higher exports of cars and airplanes and a decrease in the volume of energy imports to Slovakia. Slovakia's exports rose by 7.4 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) to €8.4 billion in April, while imports decreased by 2.7 percent to €8.1 billion. Concerning the structure of exports, only four of the ten categories showed a y-o-y increase. The most frequently traded category of foreign trade - machinery and transport equipment including cars and airplanes, which made up almost 63 percent of total exports, saw rise by over one fourth (25.9 percent) when compared to the year before. Slovakia exported most of machinery and transport equipment (68.8 percent) to the EU markets. The overal drop of imports chiefly resulted from a y-o-y decrease in the value of imports of mineral fuels, which includes imports of oil, electric energy and natural gas. The value of imports in this category was 45.5 percent lower than a year ago and the lowest seen since September 2021. Even bigger decrease was hampered by y-o-y growth in the value of imports of machinery and transport equipment, including car components. In January-April of this year, meanwhile, exports rose by 11.2 percent y-o-y to €36.3 billion, while imports grew by 2.7 percent to €35.3 billion. Slovakia's trade balance notched up a surplus of €1.1 billion, compare to a deficit of €1.7 billion it posted in the same period of last year. ko