The euro zone unexpectedly swung to a trade surplus in April from a deficit in March as imports and exports expanded despite signs of a weakening economy, the EU's Eurostat statistics office said today.
The external trade surplus of the 15 countries using the euro came to €2.3 billion ($3.57 billion) in April, compared with an upwardly revised deficit of €1.5 billion in March and a €2 billion surplus 12 months earlier.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected a trade deficit of €1.4 billion for April. According to seasonally unadjusted data, exports and imports both rose 16 per cent.
Seasonally adjusted, the euro zone surplus in April was €2.2 billion against a deficit of €1.1 billion the previous month as exports increased €6.2 per cent month-on-month and imports rose 3.6 per cent.
The data, though normally volatile, may offer some reassurance that the euro zone's economic slowdown will be milder than many analysts had feared despite a string of weak business sentiment surveys, a strong euro and a credit crunch.
Detailed data for April was not yet available.
A breakdown for the first three months of 2008 showed the trade deficit in energy widened to €74.5 billion from €52.7 billion in the same period of 2007, as oil prices kept rising.
But despite the strong euro, the region's surplus in manufactured goods trade increased to €67.7 billion in the first quarter from €55.1 billion in the same period of 2007.