Bulgaria reported the highest export growth rate among all EU member states in the first nine months of 2010, the Statistical Office of the European Commission (Eurostat) says on its website.

The country's exports in January-September grew 33 per cent. Next on the list are Latvia, with 29 per cent growth, Lithuania and Estonia, with 28 per cent each, and Romania, with 26 per cent.

As for imports, the growth rate over the nine-month period was highest in Sweden, at 30 per cent, followed by that in Lithuania, at 29 per cent, and the Czech Republic and Slovakia, at 24 per cent each. Bulgaria's imports increased 9 per cent, and the rate for Romania was 19 per cent. A decline of imports was registered in Greece, at 12 per cent, and Ireland, at 1 per cent.

Germany ran the largest foreign trade surplus in January-September, at 113,500 million euro, while the United Kingdom incurred the largest foreign trade deficit, at 84,800 million euro. Bulgaria recorded a deficit of 2,300 million euro.

Source: BTA