Sharjah, May 22 (IANS/WAM) Sharjah’s foreign trade totaled 60.5 billion dirhams (about $16 bn) in 2009, while imports accounted for 65.6 percent or 39.7 billion dirhams.
Exports and re-exports totaled 1.7 billion dirhams and 16.7 billion dirhams respectively in 2009.
Ali bin Salem Al Mahmoud, general manager of the Sharjah Economic Development Department, unveiled the figures during a presentation here Saturday.
He said the foreign trade has helped increase the emirate’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Al Mahmoud said in terms of imports, India ranked first with 14.3 billion dirhams, accounting for 36 percent of the country’s total imports, while Japan ranked second with 5.4 billion dirhams, or 13.6 percent of the total imports.
In exports, Iraq ranked first with 322.3 million dirhams, accounting for 17.6 percent of the total, while Iran ranked second with 254.3 million dirhams, or 14.9 percent of the total exports.
–IANS/WAM
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