Monstat’s preliminary data on foreign trade in the first eight months show that the export of electricity still dominates with EUR 181.6 million, while there was a significant decrease in the export of traditional Montenegrin export products of aluminum and bauxite. The value of vehicle imports is 52.3% higher compared to the same period last year, while food imports jumped by 21.1% to EUR 496.3 million.
Total foreign trade in goods amounted to EUR 2.95 billion, which is 6.8% more compared to the same period last year. The value of exports fell by 3.5% to EUR 453.7 million, and imports increased by nine percent to EUR 2.5 billion, so the coverage of imports by exports fell from 20.5 to 18.2%.
Economist Mirza Krnić, a member of the Reversal Movement, said that these data are not surprising and that they are a consequence of the structural weakness of our economy and long-term neglect of economic development.
– No matter how much the Government brags about the foreign trade balance of the previous year, it is clear that it is predominantly a consequence of the rise in the price of electricity on the stock market. We did not wait long to see that even a significantly increased monetary volume of electricity exports and reduced imports will not stop the bad trend – said Krnić.
