French trade deficit widens on imports increase

(MENAFN) Official figures showed that French trade deficit has widened to USD6.82 billion in March compared to a month earlier, driven by growing imports and sluggish sales abroad, Xinhua reported. According to data issued by customs services, the cumulated trade gap stood at USD82.98 billion in total for the past 12 months. France enlarged its gap by 29 percent due to "limited exports growth," and a rebound in imports "... at the end of March, mainly because of an upturn in energy purchases and exceptional rise in pharmaceutical industry's supplies," they said. France's sales abroad jumped up to USD50.6 billion while the value of purchases grew by 3.5 percent to USD57.5 billion, according to customs figures.