At the end of November of 2005, Croatia's deficit in foreign trade was KN 53.38 billion (USD 9 billion) and the coverage of the import by the export was 47 percent, according to preliminary figures which the Croatian Statistical Office (DZS) published earlier this week,
The export rose by 7.7 percent from the comparable period of 2004 when expressed in the kuna and by 10.2 percent when expressed in the dollar. The import in the January-November period of 2005 increased by 10.5 percent when expressed in the kuna and 13 percent when expressed in the dollar.
European Union member-states are still the most important partner in foreign trade. The export in the European Union zone accounted for 62.8 percent (USD 5.02 billion) of Croatia's total export with the import from those countries making up 74.1 percent (USD 11.13 billion dollars) of the entire import in Croatia in the said period.
Italy tops the list of countries which are Croatia's foreign trade partners. Croatia's export to that neighbour rose by 3.7 percent to USD 1.76 billion and the import from Italy rose by 5.3 percent to USD 2.7 billion.
Bosnia-Herzegovina is the second-ranked market for Croatia's exports as Croatia exported there USD 1.13 billion.
Germany is the second-ranked on the list of the exporters. The German export to Croatia totalled USD 2.5 billion (a 8.3 percent rise).