The European Union's trade deficit with Russia more than tripled to 50.3 billion euros ($64.5 billion) in 2005 from 1999, fuelled by soaring imports of energy, data from the EU statistics office showed on Wednesday.
The figures highlighted the EU's dependence on Russian gas and oil as well as growing economic ties between the 25-nation bloc and Moscow on the eve of a Russia-EU summit in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, where energy is set to top the agenda.
Between 1999 and 2005, Russia became the EU's third-biggest trading partner behind the United States and China, mainly due to energy but also thanks to growing sales of EU manufactured goods, Eurostat said.
The EU's imports of Russian goods rose to 106.7 billion euros ($136.9 billion) in 2005 from 34.3 billion in 1999, while exports grew to 56.4 billion from 16.6 billion. Energy imports ballooned to 70.6 billion euros from 17.7 billion.
The EU's exports of manufactured goods jumped to 49.5 billion euros in 2005 from 12.6 billion in 1999, with machinery and vehicles accounting for more than half of the sales.
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