Germany’s Trade Surplus Hits New Record as Exports Rise

Germany’s exports grew unexpectedly in May, taking the trade surplus to a record high, data from Destatis revealed Thursday. The imports were also on the rise and increased 0.4 percent to 79.3 billion euros with a trade surplus of 22.8 billion euros.

At the same time, imports rebounded in May, up 0.4 percent versus a 0.8 percent drop in April.

Exports to countries within the European Union that do not use the euro such as Britain and Sweden posted an 8.2 percent gain.

The earlier record of €22.3 billion was set last month.

The German economy lost steam in the first quarter, with growth slowing to 0.3% as foreign trade dragged but it is expected to have expanded by about 0.5% between April and June.

The current account balance, a broad measure of an economy’s worldwide financial position, showed an unadjusted surplus of €11.1 billion, below the €16.3 billion economists had predicted. The country’s May foreign trade surplus was Euro 505 million; meanwhile the 12-month cumulative surplus swell to Euro 7,177 billion, an unprecedented figure in statistical records.

In the first quarter, weak exports weighed on Germany’s economic growth.

“All in all this fits into the picture that the economy was growing strongly in the second quarter”, said Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING.

According to the latest Purchasing Managers’ survey, private sector growth improved in June.