BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Germany's exports increased unexpectedly in December, data released by Destatis revealed on Wednesday.
Exports were up 0.9 percent month-on-month in December. Although this was weaker than the 1.8 percent increase seen in November, the monthly growth confounded the expected fall of 0.2 percent.
At the same time, growth in imports accelerated to 4.7 percent from 3.4 percent in the previous month. Economists had forecast a decline of 1.5 percent.
As imports growth exceeded the rise in exports, the trade surplus dropped to EUR 6.8 billion from EUR 10.8 billion in the previous month.
On a yearly basis, exports and imports advanced 15.6 percent and 27.8 percent, respectively.
The trade surplus fell to unadjusted EUR 7.0 billion in December from EUR 15.1 billion in the previous year.
For the full year 2021, exports increased 14.0 percent and imports by 17.1 percent year-on-year. Exports were 3.6 percent and imports 8.9 percent above the level of the pre-crisis year 2019.
The current account closed taking into account the balances for trade in goods EUR 9.4 billion compared to a surplus of EUR 26.2 billion in the previous year.
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