Malta registered a trade deficit of €386.9 million in May, compared to €128.5 million in the same month of 2014, according to preliminary figures published by the National Statistics Office.
The NSO said imports registered an increase of €144.7 million while exports declined by €113.7 million.
In the first five months of the year, the trade deficit widened by €549 million, to €1,181.4 million when compared to the corresponding period last year.
Imports increased by €325.2 million, while exports registered a decline of €223.7 million.
Malta’s trade imports from the European Union reached €1,441.9 million, or 55.1 per cent of total imports. There was an increase of €226.4 million in imports from euro area countries when compared to the same period last year.
Main increases and decreases in imports were registered from the Netherlands (€235.6 million) and the United States of America (€126.6 million) respectively.
On the export side the main increase was directed to China (€17.6 million), whereas Italy (€44.7 million) registered the highest decrease.