German trade surplus record
November 8, 2013
In September of this year, Germany exported goods worth 94.7 billion euros ($126 billion), while imports only amounted to 74.3 billion euros.
Shipments abroad thus climbed by 3.6 percent year-on-year, with imports declining by 0.3 percent compared with the same month a year earlier.
The monthly trade surplus of 20.4 billion euros meant a new all-time record, surpassing the 19.8 billion euros logged in June 2008.
Reckless exporters?
"German exporters are quite obviously profiting from the stabilization of the euro zone," HSBC Trinkhaus economist Stefan Schilbe told Reuters news agency.
German exports to fellow euro area nations rose by 4.4 percent and those to the wider European Union by 5.4 percent, with imports from both blocs pointing downwards.
The most recent trade figures provided by the National Statistics Office, Destatis, on Friday are bound to pour gas on an already fiery debate about Germany's economic policy. A US Treasury report recently claimed German strong exports were destroying the equilibrium of the overall European economy.
hg/slk (AFP, Reuters, dpa)