Kosovo trade deficit increased to EUR 289.7 million in May of 2019 from EUR 278.9 million in the corresponding month of the previous year. Exports fell 2.9 percent to EUR 31.9 million, dragged down by lower sales of crude materials (-23 percent) while increases were recorded in shipments of manufactured goods (47.9 percent). Among major trading partners, shipments declined to Macedonia (-3.2 percent) and Serbia (-34 percent) while those rose to Albania (20.2 percent). Imports went up 3.1 percent to EUR 321.6 million, due to higher purchases of food & live animals (16.9 percent). On the other hand, imports dropped for machinery & transport equipment (-9.0 percent). Imports advanced from Turkey (17.6 percent) and China (11 percent). Balance of Trade in Kosovo averaged -159396.19 EUR Thousand from 2003 until 2019, reaching an all time high of -46937 EUR Thousand in January of 2003 and a record low of -289729 EUR Thousand in May of 2019.
Balance of Trade in Kosovo is expected to be -216500.00 EUR Thousand by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Balance of Trade in Kosovo to stand at -267800.00 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Kosovo Balance of Trade is projected to trend around -266600.00 EUR Thousand in 2020, according to our econometric models.