Ukraine trade deficit almost halved in January-April

Ukraine's trade deficit was almost halved to 2.605 billion U.S. dollars in the period from January to April on yearly basis, as drop in imports outweighed the impact of weak exports, the State Statistics Service said Friday. During the first four months of 2013, total foreign trade topped 46.555 billion dollars with exports up 0.1 percent to 21.975 billion dollars and imports slumping 6.7 percent to 24.58 billion dollars, the statistics agency said. The agency attributed trade deficit decrease mainly to the 19.3 percent reduction of natural gas purchases. Ukraine's trade deficit in April stood at 608 million dollars, down nearly 58 percent year-on-year, the agency said. Ukraine posted a trade deficit of 4.389 billion dollars in the period from January to April 2012.