BiH achieved exports worth 9,769,023,000 BAM in 2016, which is by 6 % higher compared to the previous year, said the President of the Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH, Bruno Bojic.
Bojic, presenting basic indicators of foreign trade last year, stated that the imports in BiH amounted to 16,261,248,000 BAM, which is an increase of 5.58 % compared to 2015.
“These changes have resulted in the import – export coverage of 60.1 %, which is higher by 0.4 % compared to the coverage in 2015. The total volume of foreign trade was increased by 5.74 % and its value is 26,030,270,000 BAM,” said Bojic.
The foreign trade deficit in 2016 amounted to 6,492,225,000 BAM.
Bojic said that the European Union is definitely the most important foreign trade partner of BiH in the scope of exchange and its share is 70.7 % of the total volume of trade (71% of exports and 70.5 % of imports).
On the market of the EU were exported goods worth 6,936,831,000 BAM, which is 5.76 % more than in 2015. Imports also increased, and they are amounting to 11,462,197,000 % (8.62 % more compared to 2015). The coverage of imports by exports to the EU countries amounted to 60.5 %, while foreign trade deficit amounted to 4,525,366,000 BAM.
The most important partner in terms of volume of exchange of the European Union is Croatia. In 2016, in comparison with the previous year, there was an increase of total exports of the product in Croatia to 7.59 %, while imports increased by 5.03 %. Total exports from BiH to Croatia amounted to around one billion BAM, while goods worth 2.55 billion BAM were imported from the Croatian market in BiH.
After the EU, CEFTA 2006 was accounted for 15.5 % of exports and 15.6 % of imports in the trade with BiH. On the market of CEFTA in 2016 from BiH were exported goods worth 1,511,436,000 BAM and exports compared to the previous year increased by 5.79 %. We imported goods worth 2,539,930,000 BAM from CEFTA, which is 6.92 % more than the previous year. This ratio of exports and imports resulted in a trade balance of 59.6 %.
Bojic added that the most important foreign trade partner from CEFTA countries is Serbia with which we have the lowest coverage of imports by exports. We exported goods worth 882 044 000 BAM on the Serbian market in 2016, which is by 8.08 % more than last year. We imported goods worth 2,289,619,000 BAM from Serbia and thereby increased imports by 7.3 % compared to 2015.
On the participation of EFTA and other countries goes 13.9 % of imports and 13.5 % of exports. The most important partner of EFTA is Switzerland with which is done almost entire foreign trade with the country. In 2016, imports from Switzerland has been reduced to 39.89 % while exports were increased by 13.80 %.
Among the so-called “other markets”, the most important foreign trade partner of BiH are Turkey and China.
“In 2016, trade volume with Turkey amounted to 998 million BAM. Exports to Turkey amounted to 401.32 million BAM and it is higher by 13.16 % than in the previous year. Imports from Turkey were increased by 9.83 % and amounted to 597 million BAM. The export-import coverage stood at 67.2 %,” stated Bojic.
With the PRC is a noticeable reduction in both exports and imports, where the exchange is mainly taking place in the textile industry.
“If we take into account the natural resources, skilled labor force, a low rate of VAT, we cannot be satisfied with investments in BiH, which is evidenced by the reference scale for investments, all due to political events. We are hoping to overcome that with common forces in the upcoming period and that we will have the desired investments in BiH,” said Bojic, and noted, among other things, the need for harmonization of legislation in BiH, and the importance of buying local products and services.
(Source: klix.ba)
