The total volume of BiH’s foreign trade exchange with the world in six months amounted to 23.2 billion BAM and is 41.1 percent higher than in the same period last year, President of the Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH Zdravko Marinkovic said today in Sarajevo.
At the presentation of the foreign trade exchange, Marinkovic said that exports from BiH in six months amounted to 9.3 billion BAM, which is 39.17 percent more compared to the same period in 2021, while imports were 13.9 billion BAM and higher. is by 42.4 percent compared to the first half of last year.
Marinkovic said that in the mentioned period, the coverage of imports by exports decreased by 2.28 percent and amounted to 66.6 percent, and added that the economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina is going from crisis to crisis, looking back to 2020, the time of the coronavirus pandemic, 2021, when there was a recovery and stabilization of economic trends in the country, and this year and the Ukrainian crisis, which left its mark on the economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“At the beginning of 2022, we were greeted by a global crisis manifested through the disruption of supply chains by the increase in energy prices. Observed by month, January and February were stable, but when the Ukrainian crisis began at the end of February, it automatically affected the economy in March, when we recorded a large import of goods in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Marinkovic pointed out.
He stated that the supply chain was disrupted then, that it has stabilized in some way until now, but that the prices at which it is traded remained significantly high, which was reflected in the overall foreign trade exchange of BiH.
“In terms of value, with around 40 percent, there is a growth in both imports and exports, and it is not a question of quantitative or product-related increase in imports and exports to a significant extent, but rather an increase in prices,” pointed out Marinkovic.
He says that the EU is still the most important foreign trade partner of BiH, as it participates with 72.7 percent of exports and 64.4 percent of imports.
Marinkovic adds that in six months, goods worth 6.7 billion BAM were exported to the EU market, which is 37.22 percent more than in the same period last year, while imports from the EU amounted to about 9 billion BAM and was higher by 36.14 percent compared to the same period in 2021, Srna news agency reports.