Albania's trade deficit widened 17.4% year-on-year to ALL55.0bn (€570mn) in August as imports rose sharply while export growth remained subdued, data from the national statistics institute INSTAT showed on September 17.

Goods exports increased 1.6% year-on-year to ALL20.5bn, but fell 39% from July, while imports rose 12.6% to ALL75.6bn and declined 12.6% month-on-month. The deficit was 4.3% wider than in July, according to INSTAT.

Construction materials and metals and food, beverages and tobacco each contributed 1.3 percentage points to annual export growth, while mineral, fuels and electricity added 0.7 percentage points.

The gains were partly offset by a 2.9 percentage-point negative contribution from textiles and footwear and a 0.6 percentage-point decline from chemical and plastic products.

On the import side, machinery, equipment and spare parts made the largest contribution to annual growth at 4.8 percentage points, followed by minerals, fuels and electricity at 3.5 points and construction materials and metals at 1.8 points.

Italy was the main source of increased exports, with shipments rising 5% from a year earlier, while exports to Kosovo increased 1.5%. Exports to Turkey fell 54.1% and those to North Macedonia declined 5.6%.

Imports from China rose 16.9%, while imports from Italy increased 2.2%. Imports from Greece and Germany fell 3.4% and 3.6%, respectively.

The European Union accounted for 46.2% of Albania's total trade in August. EU countries received 63.1% of Albanian exports and supplied 41.6% of imports.