(Adds minister's comments)

Malta registered a trade deficit of €93.9 million in April, down by €34.8 million when compared to the same month in 2014, according to provisional data for international trade published by the National Statistics Office.

However, in the first four months this year, the trade deficit widened by €265.2 million, to €769 million when compared to the corresponding period last year.

The NSO said imports in April registered a decline of €17.9 million while exports increased by €16.9 million.

The decrease in the value of imports was primarily due to lower mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€114.2 million). Other decreases were recorded for all commodity groups except for machinery and transport equipment.

As for exports, food accounted for the main increase (€13.3 million), while machinery and transport equipment, miscellaneous manufactured articles, crude materials, and semi-manufactured goods also registered increases.

Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said the NSO figures showed that exports net of fuels and lubricants increased by €28 million in the first four months this year.

This positive export performance was underpinned by increases in the exports of foods, mechanical appliances, machinery and transport equipment, and miscellaneous manufactured articles.

“These figures substantiate the view of a continuous recovery in the external sector of the economy,” Prof. Scicluna said.

He said the figures also confirmed an increase in imports of investment goods, amounting to over €428 million for the first four months this year.

This reflected the strong investment contributing to the productive capacity of the economy and to the sustainability of Malta’s current strong economic growth rate.