PARIS (dpa-AFX) - France's trade deficit narrowed in April after widening in March, as imports declined more than exports, preliminary data from the French Customs Office showed on Friday.
The trade deficit fell to EUR 4.981 billion from EUR 5.461 billion in March. In February, the shortfall was EUR 4.231 billion.
In the same month last year, the trade deficit was EUR 5.27 billion.
Imports fell 2.7 percent month-on-month and exports decreased 1.9 percent.
Compared to a year ago, imports rose 5.7 percent and exports grew 5.5 percent.
The latest decline in trade was driven by energy products, pharmaceuticals, transport equipment and other manufactured goods such as jewelery, the agency said.
Elsewhere on Friday, data from the Bank of France showed that the current account deficit decreased to EUR 0.8 billion in April from EUR 2.3 billion in March.
The lower deficit was largely due to the simultaneous narrowing in the deficit of goods excluding energy, of the energy bill and an improvement in the services surplus due to travel services, the central bank said.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2019 AFX News
