Ukraine's trade deficit edged down 5.7 percent year on year to 8.476 billion U.S. dollars in 2013, the State Statistics Service said Friday.

Last year, Ukraine's exports went down 7.6 percent from 2012 to 76.126 billion dollars, reflecting less overseas sales of vehicles, machines and chemicals, the statistics agency said.

Meanwhile, imports dropped 7.4 percent to 84.602 billion dollars as purchases of minerals, electronics and vehicles decreased, it added.

Russia remained Ukraine's major trading partner with a two-way trade volume of 38.2 billion dollars.

Besides, the inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) totaled 5.677 billion dollars in 2013, down 5.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the statistics agency.

FDI withdrawal reached 2.845 billion dollars, 1.589 billion dollars more than the previous year, it added.

In 2013, Cyprus was Ukraine's largest investor, injecting 1.287 billion dollars, or 32.7 percent of the overall investment, into the economy. Germany and the Netherlands followed with a 10.8-percent and 9.6-percent share respectively.

Last year, the largest amount of the FDI inflow went into the processing sector, mining industry and energy supply, according to the agency.

Ukraine's FDI outflow amounted to 6.575 billion dollars in 2013, invested primarily in the scientific, technical and insurance spheres, as well as in retail trade. Endi

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