Italy posted its highest monthly trade surplus in 11 years in July due to a slump in imports, but economists said the eurozone's number 3 economy would need to boost exports quickly to benefit from a global recovery. Statistics agency ISTAT said on Thursday that Italy posted a trade surplus of 4.107 billion euros with the rest of the world in July, its highest since July 1998, versus a surplus of 2.074 billion in the same month of 2008, in unadjusted nominal terms.
Both exports and imports registered steep year-on-year declines, a sign of continued weak international and domestic demand, despite some timid signs of stabilisation in Italy's economy. Exports fell 20.6 percent year-on-year in nominal terms, compared with a 27.6 percent fall in imports. Month-on-month, in seasonally adjusted terms, exports rose by 3.1 percent and imports fell by 2.8 percent.
With European Union countries, Italy registered a trade surplus of 2.397 billion euros, down from a surplus of 3.695 billion in July 2008, national statistics office ISTAT said. Exports to EU nations in July were down 23.1 percent year-on-year, compared to a decline of 20.6 percent in imports. Exports to Spain were worst hit, falling by 30.9 percent, followed by Germany, which was down 22.2 percent.