BRATISLAVA (AFP) -- Slovakia more than halved its May trade deficit to 3.5 billion koruna (105.1 million euros, 144.5 million dollars) compared with the 7.7 billion koruna a year earlier, the Slovak Statistical Office announced on Thursday.

In April the trade deficit was 1.2 billion koruna. During the first five months of the year, exports have risen 23.7 percent and imports by 14.9 percent with the trade deficit cut to 5.4 billion koruna, nearly an eighth of the level during the corresponding period in 2006