Italy’s foreign trade balance turned to a deficit in August from a surplus in the previous year, as imports grew more rapidly than exports, data from the statistical office Istat showed on Tuesday.
The trade balance for August was a shortfall of EUR 9.569 billion versus a surplus of EUR 1.015 in the corresponding month last year.
In July, there was a deficit of EUR 460 million.
Exports climbed 24.8 percent year-over-year in August, following a 18.4 percent gain in July.
Outgoing flows to EU countries increased 27.6 percent and those to non-EU countries gained 22.1 percent.
Meanwhile, import growth accelerated markedly to 59.1 percent from 44.6 percent.
Italian imports increased as a result of rising energy prices and the necessity to find alternatives to Russia.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, exports declined 3.6 percent monthly in August, while imports increased 4.2 percent. As a result, the trade gap widened from EUR 4.076 billion to EUR 8.486 billion.
Data also showed that import prices climbed 23.7 percent annually and by 3.0 percent monthly in August.
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