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French trade deficit widens
The French trade deficit with the rest of the world widened 16.5 percent in the first half of the year to 15.046 billion euros (20.6 billion dollars) from the same period last year, official figures showed Wednesday. But the shortfall in June narrowed to 3.011 billion euros from 3.218 billion in May, according to customs authorities."The trend is not good," secretary of state for trade Herve Novelli told RTL radio just before the results were announced. "France is losing market share." Novelli said that while the rising price of oil and the appreciating euro had contributed to the deficit, they were not solely to blame. He noted that in the first five months of the year, France sold more aircraft than it had ever done before in the period despite the rising euro, which tends to make eurozone exports more expensive and less competitive. He attributed France's trade weakness to "structural factors at the heart of our economy that are preventing us from giving our full measure." Posted by: lotp 2007-08-09 |
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