France Trade Gap Widens In August

(RTTNews) - France's foreign trade deficit increased in August from a year ago, as imports grew more rapidly than exports, data released by the customs office showed on Friday.

The trade deficit rose notably to EUR 15.30 billion in August from EUR 6.61 billion in the corresponding month last year. In July, the deficit was EUR 14.78 billion.

The fall in trade balance was mainly due to the deterioration of the energy balance in a context of rising energy prices.

Exports logged an annual growth of 20.1 percent in August. At the same time, imports grew more markedly, by 33.7 percent.

Month-on-month, exports rose 4.5 percent, and imports were 4.3 percent higher.