French Trade Gap Narrows In July

(RTTNews) - France's trade deficit decreased in July from a year ago as imports fell faster than exports, data released by the customs office showed on Friday.

The trade deficit dropped to EUR 5.88 billion in July from EUR 7.96 billion in the same month last year. The expected shortfall was EUR 6.5 billion.

In June, the trade deficit was EUR 5.98 billion.

During July, the energy balance improved further by EUR 0.4 billion.

Exports posted an annual decrease of 3.6 percent, and imports were 5.0 percent lower. On a monthly basis, both exports and imports slid by 3.3 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively.