Germany's Oct Trade Surplus Smaller Than Seen
December 09 2016 - 2:03AM
Dow Jones News
By Nina Adam
FRANKFURT--Germany's trade surplus in October was slightly
smaller than expected, as exports recovered only modestly after
September's decline.
German exports in October rose 0.5% from the month before,
adjusted for seasonal swings and calendar effects, while imports
increased 1.3%, the Destatis statistics body said Friday.
Total exports in the first ten months of the year were 0.3%
higher than in the same period in 2015, a sign that uncertainties
in the wake of the U.S. presidential election and the U.K.'s vote
to leave the European Union are already hurting Europe's largest
export nation.
Compared with October last year, German exports were down 4.1%.
But a "calendar effect" weighed on the outcome, a statistician at
Destatis said, as there were two fewer working days in October 2016
than in October 2015.
The adjusted trade surplus, meanwhile, fell to 20.5 billion
euros ($21.8 billion) from a revised EUR21.1 billion in September,
below economists' forecasts of EU21.0 billion.
Germany's current account balance--a broad measure of an
economy's international financial position--showed a surplus of
EUR18.4 billion in October, on a non-adjusted basis. The outcome
was below economists' forecasts and below the surplus of EUR21.7
billion recorded in October last year.
Write to Nina Adam at nina.adam@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 09, 2016 02:48 ET (07:48 GMT)
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