Trade gap widens in January-August

CYPRUS’ trade deficit reached £826.6 million in the first eight months of 1997, an increase of £33 million over the same period in the previous year.

The Department of Statistics and Research said yesterday that total imports, including items kept at bonded warehouses, reached £1.25 billion in the January-August period of 1997, up from £1.22 in the first eight months of 1996.

Exports, however, declined to £424.6 million in 1997 from 432.7 million in 1996.

The island imported £983.6 million worth of goods for domestic consumption during last year’s January-August period, up from £959.3 million in the same period of 1996.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.