BERLIN: Germany’s exports and imports for the month of August came in more than consensus expectations. Exports of the country recorded their biggest rise in over six years. According to the data from Germany’s Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the nation’s exports grew 5.4 percent sequentially in seasonally adjusted terms. Consensus expectations were for a rise of 2.2 percent. Meanwhile, seasonally adjusted imports grew 3 percent sequentially in August, as compared with consensus expectations of 0.7 percent rise. On a year-on-year basis, exports grew 9.8 percent, whereas imports rose 5.3 percent in August.
Germany exported goods to the value of EUR 96.5 billion and imported goods to the value of EUR 76.5 billion in August, stated Destatis. The trade data hints that exports, which had been softening, would be contributing to a likely economic growth in the third quarter. In seasonally adjusted terms, Germany’s foreign trade balance registered a surplus of EUR 22.2 billion in August, an increase from July’s surplus of EUR 19.4 billion and higher than consensus expectations of EUR 20 billion. The provisional results of the Deutsche Bundesbank showed that that current account of the balance of payments saw a surplus of EUR 17.9 billion in August 2016, as compared with the surplus of EUR 14.4 billion in August 2015.
