The total trade year-on-year recorded a decrease of 1.8 per cent from BND2,513.8 million in December 2021 to BND2,468.6 million in December 2022, according to statistics published by the Department of Economic Planning and Statistics (DEPS).
According to the department’s International Merchandise Trade Statistics (IMTS) report for December 2022, the decrease was due to a decline in import value by 11.0 per cent from BND1,016.6 million to BND904.6 million, mainly due to a decrease in imports of Mineral Fuels particularly crude oil as a production input for the downstream petrochemical industry.
Meanwhile, total exports increased by 4.5 per cent year-on-year from BND1,497.2 million to BND1,564.0 million over the same period, mainly due to increase in Mineral Fuels exports.