Germany's trade surplus narrowed more than expected in February due to a surge in imports, suggesting that foreign demand was unlikely to have boosted economic growth significantly in the first quarter.
Imports to Europe's largest economy posted their strongest gain in over a year, outpacing a solid rise in exports, preliminary Federal Statistics Office data showed on Tuesday. In seasonally-adjusted terms, the surplus was 13.8 billion euros ($18.42 billion), compared with 15.8 billion in January. Economists in a Reuters poll had forecast a February surplus of 15.4 billion euros.
Exports rose 1.9 percent on the month in adjusted terms to 80.1 billion euros, the Office said. Imports rose 5.6 percent to 66.4 billion, the strongest increase since December 2005. "Exports continue to rise and that's positive news," said Rainer Sartoris at HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt. "After the incredibly good fourth quarter, however, we won't get quite as much of a push from trade at the start of this year. In the first quarter, we won't get much of a contribution to growth."
Foreign trade delivered a massive boost to German gross domestic product growth of 0.9 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, offsetting the negative impact of domestic demand. Economists had predicted exports would rise 0.4 percent on the month, with imports seen gaining 1.0 percent.
STRONGER DOMESTIC ECONOMY: Sebastian Wanke, an economist at DekaBank, said the strong increase in imports suggested that demand in Germany was in robust shape, auguring well for the domestic economy. Details of the report showed that trade with other EU states was much brisker than with countries outside the bloc.
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