Deficit of Ukraine's foreign trade in goods grows by 1.5 times

The deficit of Ukraine's foreign trade in goods in January-August 2018 amounted to US$5.004 billion, which is 1.5 times more than the deficit for the same period last year, recorded at US$3.434 billion.

Exports of goods from Ukraine grew by 12.4% year-over-year, to US$30.911 billion, while imports increased by 16.1%, to US$35.915 billion, the State Statistics Service of Ukraine has said on its website.

Read alsoUkraine sees over 36 % rise in foreign trade deficit in Jan-Aug

The ratio of coverage of imports by exports was 0.86 (0.89 in January-August 2017).

Ukraine traded with partners from 215 countries and regions.

According to the State Statistics Service, exports of goods to the European Union grew by 18.3%, to US$13.012 billion, while imports of goods from the EU rose by 13.4%, to US$14.867 billion.

The volume of exports of goods to the Russian Federation decreased by 6.5% to US$2.449 billion, while imports of goods from the Russian Federation grew by 21.2%, to US$5.094 billion.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the deficit of Ukraine's foreign trade in 2017 was estimated at $2.625 billion against a surplus of $541.6 million in 2016.

However, the National Bank of Ukraine said that Ukraine's foreign trade in goods and services showed a deficit of $6.848 billion in 2017, which was 25.2% up from the deficit reported in 2016.