Austria's trade drops sharply in early 2009

VIENNA, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Austria's trade volume dropped more than 20 percent year on year in the first two months of this year, Statistics Austria said Tuesday.

For the period, the value of exports dropped 25 percent to 14.83 billion euros (19.88 billion U.S. dollars) compared with the same period last year, while imports fell 20.1 percent to 15.55 billion euros, the statistics office said.

In February, the value of imports from other European Union member states slided 22.2 percent to 5.72 billion euros, while exports dropped 25.4 percent to 5.5 billion euros.

Imports from non European countries amounted to 2.24 billion euros in February, a drop of 16.7 percent from the same period last year, while exports stood at 2.20 billion euros, down 19.5 percent, it said. (1 U.S. dollar = 0.746 euro)

EU doubles fund for emergency lending to eastern members

Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

BRUSSELS, May 5 (Xinhua) -- European Union (EU) finance ministers agreed on Tuesday to double the fund for emergency lending to eastern European members to 50 billion euros (67 billion U.S. dollars).

Under the agreement, the ceiling of the EU's financial support facility will be raised from the current 25 billion euros (33.5 billion dollars) in the light of the economic and financial crisis.

"The increase is intended to cater for potential new demands from member states for medium-term support to their balances of payments," the finance ministers said in a statement on the sidelines of their monthly meeting in Brussels.

The ceiling of the facility, which was designed to help EU member states outside the euro zone stabilize their economies, were already doubled in December to the current amount.

But Hungary drew 6.5 billion euros (8.7 billion U.S. dollars) from the facility and Latvia used 3.1 billion euros (4.2 billion U.S. dollars) last year, while Romania is seeking 5 billion euros (6.7 billion U.S. dollars).

With more and more members in Central and Eastern Europe running into financial and economic trouble, there is a call for the EU to have more funds ready to provide emergency aid.

EU leaders agreed in principle at a summit in March to double the fund again.

EU records 2.3-billion-euro trade surplus with Canada in 2008

BRUSSELS, May 4 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) recorded a trade surplus of 2.3 billion euros (3 billion U.S. dollars) with Canada in 2008, the 27-nation bloc's statistics bureau Eurostat said Monday.

Between 2000 and 2008, EU exports of goods to Canada grew from 21.1 billion euros to 26.1 billion euros, while EU imports from Canada rose from 19.0 billion euros to 23.8 billion euros.

As a result, the EU surplus in trade with Canada remained nearly stable, at 2.1 billion euros in 2000 and 2.3 billion euros in 2008, Eurostat said on the eve of a summit between the EU and Canada, which will take place Wednesday in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic.

Among the 27 EU member states, Germany was the largest exporter to Canada in 2008, accounting for 24 percent of the total. It was followed by Britain, France and Italy. Meanwhile, Britain was by far the largest importer of Canada, followed by Germany, the Netherlands and France.

In 2008, nearly two-fifths of EU exports to Canada were machinery and vehicles, while chemicals and other manufactured article each accounted for around a fifth of exports.

Machinery and vehicles made up around a quarter of imports, and crude materials and other manufactured articles each accounted for around a fifth of imports.

EU foreign ministers agreed last week to start negotiations on a comprehensive free trade agreement with Canada, which would go beyond current commitments under the World Trade Organization rules and reinforce the already strong bilateral trade and investment relationship.

Negotiations are expected to be officially launched at the upcoming EU-Canada summit. (1 U.S. dollar = 0.756 euro)