09 November 2009 - 09H49  

German trade surplus slumps: statistics
The logo of German carmaker BMW is seen on a workers coat at the company's plant in the southern German city of Dingolfing. The country's foreign trade surplus slumped by nearly a third in September to 10.6 billion euros (15.8 billion dollars), figures released on Monday by the national statistics office showed.
The logo of German carmaker BMW is seen on a workers coat at the company's plant in the southern German city of Dingolfing. The country's foreign trade surplus slumped by nearly a third in September to 10.6 billion euros (15.8 billion dollars), figures released on Monday by the national statistics office showed.

AFP - Germany's foreign trade surplus slumped by nearly a third in September to 10.6 billion euros (15.8 billion dollars), figures released on Monday by the national statistics office showed.

In September 2008 the trade surplus for Germany, one of the world's leading exporters, stood at 15.3 billion euros, the Destatis service said.

Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had expected a slightly higher surplus of 10.8 billion euros this time.

Europe's biggest economy also showed a current account surplus of 9.5 billion euros, 39 percent lower than a year earlier, Destatis said.

The current account is an overall measure of all current payments into and out of a country or region.

On a monthly basis, German exports rose by 3.8 percent from August to 68.3 billion euros, according to calendar and seasonally adjusted data, while imports were 5.8 percent higher at 58.4 billion euros.

Germany's economy is heavily dependent on exports, and was hit hard by the global economic slowdown.

The government expects economic activity to contract by around five percent this year, but grow by 1.2 percent in 2010.

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