Economy Ministry posts foreign trade figures

According to the Russian Economy Ministry, the volume of Russia's foreign trade amounted to $12.9bn in January 2003, which was 25.2 percent more than in 2002. This advance was due to the continuing growth in prices for Russia's main exports. The trade surplus was $4.7bn. Exports exceeded imports by 2.1 times.

Russian exports amounted to $8.8bn last month, which was 31.3 percent less than in January 2002. Exports to the CIS were $1.2bn and they were $7.6bn to other foreign countries. Imports amounted to $4.1bn, which was a 10.8 percent increase compared to January 2002, including $3.1bn from outside the CIS and $1bn from the CIS.