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Euro area trade deficit narrowed at the start of the year as the pace of fall in imports exceeded the decline in exports, official data revealed Monday.
The deficit on trade in goods decreased to a seasonally adjusted EUR 11.3 billion in January from EUR 13.4 billion in December, Eurostat reported. The monthly fall in exports slowed to 1.1 percent in January from 2.8 percent in December. Likewise, imports dropped at a slower pace of 1.8 percent after easing 2.9 percent a month ago.
However, the non-adjusted trade deficit increased to EUR 30.6 billion in January from EUR 30.2 billion in the same period last year due to higher cost of imported energy.
Exports logged a double-digit annual growth of 11.0 percent. That was faster than the 9.0 percent increase in the previous month. Similarly, the rise in imports improved to 9.7 percent from 8.9 percent.
Data showed that the EU trade deficit with Russia and China declined from the last year. At the same time, the surplus on trade in goods with both the US and the UK decreased in January.
In the whole year of 2022, exports of goods climbed 18.0 percent and imports grew 37.7 percent from the last year.
As a result, the euro area registered a deficit of EUR 333.5 billion compared with a surplus of EUR 105.3 billion in January to December 2021.
