French Trade Gap Widens In July

(RTTNews) - France's trade deficit widened in July as the increase in imports exceeded the exports growth, the customs office reported Tuesday.

The trade deficit rose to EUR 6.67 billion in July from EUR 5.75 billion in June. In the same period last year, the shortfall was EUR 4.99 billion.

Exports rose 0.3 percent from the previous month and imports increased 1.8 percent in July. On a yearly basis, exports climbed 6.1 percent and imports grew 6.4 percent.

Elsewhere, the Bank of France said the current account deficit increased notably in July due to a concurrent weakening in goods and services balances. The current account gap rose to EUR 4.7 billion from EUR 1.6 billion in June.