JERUSALEM, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Israel's trade deficit of goods excluding diamonds hit 14.8 billion new shekels (4.29 billion U.S. dollars) in the first two months of 2018, compared with 8.8 billion new shekels last year, according to the statistics issued by the Central Bureau of Statistics of Israel on Monday.

Israeli exports of goods, excluding diamonds, reached 27.5 billion new shekels in January and February, down 0.67 percent from 2017.

Meanwhile, imports of goods, excluding diamonds, in Israel surged 15.9 percent year on year to 42.3 billion new shekels.

Notably, the trade deficit with EU and Asian countries totalled 9.7 billion new shekels and 2.9 billion new shekels respectively, compared with 7 billion new shekels and 4.1 billion new shekels last year.