A speedier rise in the exports than in the imports resulted in the deceleration of the growth of the deficit in the country's foreign trade and a more favourable export/import ratio.
The foreign trade deficit was $8.56 billion in 2004, rising 6.7 percent from 2003 when it came to $8.02 billion. The deficit in 2003 climbed by 38 percent from 2002.
The coverage of imports by exports was 48.4 percent in 2004 as against 43.5 percent in 2003.
Expressed in the kuna, last year's exports valued 48.35 billion kuna, rising 16.9 percent from 2003. Last year's imports rose by 5.4 percent to 99.97 billion kuna.
The most important exporters in the national economy were the shipbuilding, oil and chemical industries.
The main partner in foreign trade were the 25 European Union member-countries with Croatia's exports to that market totalling 5.2 billion dollars, and imports coming to 11.5 billion.