PARIS: The French trade deficit widened in July, as imports grew faster than exports, data from the customs office showed Thursday. The trade shortfall rose to EUR 5.97 billion in July from EUR 4.88 billion in June.
In the corresponding month of 2016, the trade deficit was EUR 3.97 billion. Exports rose 0.5% month-over-month in July, reversing a 2.6% fall in the prior month. Imports rebounded strongly by 3.1% from June, when it dropped by 2.1%. Annually, both exports and imports grew by 5.6% and 9.7%, respectively.
