In the first six months of 2018, Bosnia’s Serb-dominated Republika Srpska (RS) entity achieved a negative trade balance with imports surpassing exports by BAM 682 million (around EUR 341 million), said the RS Statistics Agency.

Between January and June 2018, the RS’ foreign trade volume amounted to around BAM 4.3 billion (around EUR 2.1 billion) of which exports amounted to BAM 1.825 billion (around EUR 912 million) and imports amounted to some BAM 2.5 billion (around EUR 1.25 billion).

The RS’ exports rose by 11.7 percent compared to January-June 2017, while imports rose by 7.3 percent.

Most exports were made to Italy – BAM 280 million (around EUR 140 million) which is 15.3 percent of the total exports. The second largest export market for the RS is Croatia, where this entity exported good worth BAM 236 (around EUR 118 million), od 13 percent of the total exports.

At the same time, the RS imported mostly from Serbia, with imports reaching BAM 415 million (around EUR 207 million) or 16.5 percent of the total imports. The second place imports-wise was taken by Russia, with imports reaching BAM 338 million (around EUR 169 million), or 13.5 percent of the total imports to this entity.

Seen by the groups of imports which the RS mostly imported during the said period, the entity mostly imported electricity worth BAM 142 (around EUR 70 million), or 7.8 percent of the total imports, and fuel and oils obtained from bituminous minerals amounting to BAM 301 million (around EUR million), which is 12 percent of the total imports.

The Statistics Agency said the export-import coverage was 72.8 percent during the said period.