Russia's foreign trade advances

Russia's foreign trade volume calculated in accordance with the methodology of payment balance amounted to $17.7bn in August 2003, which was 17.7 percent higher than in August 2002 and 0.7 percent lower than in July 2003, the Russian State Statistics Committee reported.

Russian exports amounted to $11.5bn in August 2003, which was 16.3 percent more than in August 2002 and 2.8 percent higher than in July 2003. Russian exports to the CIS were $1.9bn and $9.7bn to other countries.

Imports amounted to $6.2bn in August 2003, a 20.5-percent gain against August 2002 and a 6.5-percent drop compared to July 2003. Imports from the CIS were $1.35bn and imports outside the CIS were $4.8bn in August 2003.

The surplus was $5.35bn in August 2003 compared to $4.8bn in August 2002.