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Yugoslavia Trading Partners
Yugoslavia's trade policy followed the complete realignment
of its foreign policy after expulsion from the Cominform in 1948.
By the 1960s, structural reform and entry into the international
market had broken down many economic and social barriers between
Yugoslavia and the outside world. Although the Soviet Union
remained Yugoslavia's largest trading partner throughout the
1980s, the emergence in 1986 of West Germany as Yugoslavia's top
source of imports typified increased emphasis on trade with
Western Europe. Beginning in the 1980s, Yugoslavia traded with
developing countries more selectively than it had in previous
decades, when the Yugoslav economy was more able to absorb the
commercial losses associated with such ventures.
Yugoslavia's growing trade deficit greatly influenced its
trade with Western industrialized nations in the 1980s. Many
measures were adopted to cut all but essential imports from the
West and encourage import-substituting domestic industries. But
the import of expensive Western technology often was a
prerequisite for establishing such industries. On the export
side, over half of Yugoslav exports still went to the East
European members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
(
CEMA--see Glossary) in the 1980s, but only the more demanding
Western markets (and limited Third World transactions) paid hard
currency for Yugoslav goods.
Data as of December 1990
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