Off the wire
• China, Southeast Asian countries to improve anti-terror cooperation  • S. African voters urged to register for local elections  • West African citizens still need no visa on arrival in Ghana: FM  • IFC to help Cambodia's stock market regulator strengthen governance, regulation  • New land route boosts China-Kazakhstan tourism  • Urgent: Pakistan envoy says peace process with India remains suspended  • U.S. stocks open lower following release of Fed minutes  • Kerry says anti-terror campaign critical mission for U.S., Bahrain  • Africa Economy: Zimbabwe banks hit by new round of cash shortage  • China's "Youth Plus" Young Artists Promotion Project opens in Singapore  
You are here: 　 Home

France enlarges trade gap in February on high imports

Xinhua, April 7, 2016 Adjust font size:

Low sales abroad and soaring costs of imported petroleum and industrial products drove France's trade deficit up to 5.2 billion euros (5.91 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of February from 3.9 billion euros registered a month earlier, customs figures showed on Thursday.

"Imports are growing significantly mainly due to strong supplies of automotive, aerospace industries, industrial equipment and refined petroleum. However, the level of exports declined slightly," French customs said in a statement.

The country's total imports stood at 43.3 billion euros at the end of February, up by 2.8 percent compared to January data while exports inched down to 38.1 billion euros despite growing aeronautic sales, they added.

France has sold 21 Airbus aircraft worth 2.14 billion euros over the period versus 14 units whose value totaled 1.48 billion euros.

For the past 12 months, the cumulated trade deficit was at 47.5 billion euros in total compared to 45.6 billion euros in 2015. (1 euro=1.14 U.S. dollars) Endit