Malta’s trade deficit at €370.2 million in February - NSO

Statistics published by the National Statistics Office (NSO) show that the trade deficit in February stood at €370.2 million, up by €236.0 million when compared to the corresponding month in 2014.

Statistics show that imports registered an increase of €185.9 million while exports decreased by €50.2 million. According to the NSO, the increase in the value of imports was primarily due to machinery and transport equipment (€189.2 million), while other increases were recorded for chemicals, crude materials, and miscellaneous transactions and commodities.

Figures showed that mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials accounted for the main decrease in the value of exports (€52.6 million), whereas other decreases were registered for machinery and transport equipment, beverages and tobacco, chemicals, and crude materials.

The NSO explained that during the first two months this year, the trade deficit widened by €230.5 million, to €472.9 million when compared to the corresponding period last year.

“Imports increased by €124.1 million, while exports registered a decrease of €106.4 million,” the statement read.

Statistics show that the increase in imports was mainly due to machinery and transport equipment (€189.9 million), while the decrease in the value of exports was primarily due to mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€93.2 million) and machinery and transport equipment (€24.3 million).

The statement said that Malta’s trade imports from the European Union reached €433.4 million, or 43.5% of total imports, but there was a drop of €12.9 million in imports from euro area countries when compared to the same period last year.

According to statistics, main increases and decreases in imports were registered from Canada (€212.4 million) and Italy (€38.6 million) respectively, while on the export side the main increase was directed to Egypt with €42.1 million, and Germany registering the highest decrease with €26.2 million.

Malta experiencing record investment period- Government

In its statement, the government explained that in the first two months of 2015, imports of machinery and objects intended for capital investment amounted to €308.2 million.

According to the government, this is almost three times what was imported in the same period during the last year of the previous administration.

“This is the highest number of machinery and items intended for investment that has ever been observed in the first two months of the year since these figures started being collected,” the statement reads.

The statement pointed out that the most impressive thing is the fact that this record was achieved even though Malta has been having record numbers of capital object imports since mid 2014.

“During the past six months, machinery imports amounted to €864.5 million. This was around €55 million more than imports in the last year of the previous administration when they amounted to €810.9 million,” the statement reads.

The statement points out that in February, our country also saw a rise in industrial exports from €159.5 million in February 2014 to €161.9 million in February 2015, which presents a 1.5% increase. The sectors which were effected most positively were chemical, plastic, agricultural and fish products, printed material, metal objects and machinery.

“These statistics confirm the optimism our companies are experiencing. The imports of so much new machinery and increase in industrial exports are all concrete signs that following the improvement of the services sector, manufacture sectors will also finally find the necessary support,” the statement says.

The government promised to continue working in this sector to ensure our country reaches its full potential.