In the first four months of 2006, Romania’s commercial deficit exceeded 3.4 billion Euros, up 1.07 billion Euros compared to the same period last year, a National Statistics Institute press release informs.

The exports reached 8.07 billion Euros in Q1, up 17.2% compared to 2005, and exports to EU(67.8% of the total export activity) grew 14%, while imports topped 11.4 billion Euros, up 24.6% than in Q1 last year. The main export countries are Italy (18.7%), Germany (14.7%) and France (7.5%).

Imports from EU countries went up 20.3% in Q1 2006, while they make up 60.5 % of the total imports. The main import countries are Italy (14.5%), Germany (14%) and Russian Federation (10.2%).

The European Commission predicted a commercial deficit from 9.8%GDP in 2005 to 11.6%GDP in 2006 and 13.1%GDP in 2007.