Bratislava, July 11 - Slovakia's foreign trade balance slipped back into a deficit of Sk6.8 billion (€225.72 million) in April, after recording a surplus of Sk700 million (€23.166 million) in the same month of 2007, the Slovak Statistics Office reported in revised figures.

Exports grew by 22 percent year-on-year in April to total Sk134.8 billion (€4.47 billion), while imports rose 28.9 percent to 141.6 billion (€4.7 billion).

The cumulative January-April trade balance showed a deficit of Sk2.1 billion (€69.71 million). Exports in the period rose by 16.2 percent y-o-y to Sk517.9 billion (€17.19 billion), while imports were up 18.2 percent y-o-y to Sk520 billion (€17.26 billion).

In trading with Slovakia's major partners, exports in the first four months of this year increased as follows: to France - 30.2 percent y-o-y, to the Czech Republic - 22.5 percent, to Germany - 12.4 percent, to the European Union as a whole - 13.7 percent, and to countries belonging to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) - 13 percent.

Exports to Spain fell by 16.3 percent y-o-y, while those to the Netherlands were down 7.9 percent.

Imports from Russia increased by 65.6 percent y-o-y. Other y-o-y increases were: from South Korea - 39.1 percent, from Germany - 21.2 percent, from the EU as a whole - 12.2 percent, and from countries belonging to the OECD - 13.5 percent.

Imports from Taiwan fell by 6 percent y-o-y.

(TASR)