Foreign Trade

In the Principality, after a year heavily impacted by the health crisis and in particular a period of lockdown during a quarter of the first half of 2020, which led to a significant drop in most economic indicators, 2021 will see a gradual return to normalcy through the recovery of world trade in goods. Reaching €2.9 billion at the end of December 2021, the overall volume of trade, excluding France, is increasing significantly (+23.0 %), and is returning to its pre-crisis dynamics. However, it remains well below its pre-pandemic level. At €1.2 billion, the volume of exports is tending towards its 2019 level, its historical high. In value terms, imports are growing 1.5 times more intensively than exports and the trade balance deficit is therefore rising mechanically. Nevertheless, the relative increase in imports and exports is roughly equal and the coverage rate is thus maintained at 64.5 %.

For the first time, Monegasque revenue, excluding Financial and Insurance Activities, exceeds €16 billion, thanks in particular to the results of the two trade sectors (wholesale and retail). It is up by €1.9 billion compared to 2020 (+13.3 %) and by €1.0 billion (+6.9 %) compared to 2019. Nevertheless, despite the encouraging results of many major economic sectors, some of them are not returning to their pre-crisis 2019 levels.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and despite the various measures adopted to support the economy, the Principality's GDP falls to €6.0 billion in 2020 (-9.5 % compared to 2019), thus erasing its growth of the past year.

Europe remains by far the Principality's leading economic partner. As for Asia and America, the balance of trade with Europe is in deficit (441.5 M€) and is depreciating due to a faster growth of imports.