German trade surplus falls in 2008
FRANKFURT, (AFP) –
Germany’s trade surplus fell 8.7 percent in 2008 from the previous year to 178.2 billion euros (226.8 billion dollars), as imports grew more than exports, official figures showed on Monday.
The total amount of goods and services provided by the world’s leading exporter increased by 2.8 percent, while imports gained 5.8 percent, a statement from the Destatis statistics service said.
In December, the trade surplus amounted to 6.9 billion euros, down from 9.9 billion in December 2007, Destatis said.
That was well below expectations for a surplus of 8.4 billion euros forecast in a poll of economists by Dow Jones Newswires.
An export slowdown is especially bad news for the biggest European economy because it is the country’s main engine of growth, and the data showed that exports were still losing steam at the end of the year.
According to seasona…
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