MOSCOW, November 10 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Central Bank announced Thursday that Russia's foreign trade in the first nine months of 2005 had grown 34.4% year on year, reaching $263.35 billion.
Earlier in the day, the Russian Federal Customs Service announced a lower figure of $242.3 billion.
According to Bank data, external trade in September 2005 hit $32.6 billion, up from $24.5 in the same period in 2004.
Export during the first nine months reached $177.58 billion, up from $128.946 billion the previous year, while imports reached $85.8 billion over last year's $67 billion, the CBR said.
The export surplus during the period climbed to $91.8 billion from $61.9 billion in 2004.
The Federal Customs Service puts the export surplus figure substantially higher at $105 billion.
