The foreign trade balance of the Czech Republic ended with a surplus of 14.3 billion CZK in February for the second consecutive month. The positive role in this was played by the export of motor vehicles, with the result being better by 21.2 billion CZK compared to last year. The information comes from the Czech Statistical Office (CSU).
According to Miluše Kavěnová, Director of the Department of Foreign Trade Statistics, “In February, the trade balance maintained a favorable trend due to a year-on-year increase in motor vehicle exports, despite production shutdowns at some car factories. The positive result was also contributed to by a year-on-year lower value of imports of most commodities referred to as fossil fuels.”
Exports in February increased by 9.9% YoY to 358 billion CZK, while imports increased by 3.3% to 343.7 billion CZK.
The article also mentions that the balance of agricultural products has turned negative, meaning that more of these products were imported than exported, a reversal from previous months.
Jiří Pour, an economist at UniCredit Bank, commented that they expect the trade balance to be the driving force behind GDP growth this year due to lower imports in connection with consumption restrictions and inventory dissolution, as well as some recovery in foreign demand for cars. He added that the surplus is higher than analysts had expected, as they predicted 8 billion CZK.