(CIANEWS) - At 10.2% y/y in August, growth in the value of exports was slightly above the Export Index's prediction of close to 8%. Raiffeisenbank and the Association of Exporters reported that it was not purely a matter of growth in the volume of goods exported, but mainly export prices, which were 14.2% higher y/y in August. The Export Index continues to predict a gradually weakening annual growth rate in exports, which is close to zero at the end of the year. The main reasons for this are the deterioration in external demand and in domestic industry. An improvement in the situation is unlikely given the current high production costs combined with an uncertain economic outlook. Exports are more likely to be driven by the completion of work in progress. However, the key question, apart from demand, is whether there will be sufficient energy to enable the industry to complete the work in progress at all.