- Carsten Brzeski, cief economist at ING
Germany's exports declined in October by a seasonally adjusted 1.2% to 99 billion euros, compared with a strong 2.6% gain in September, as some of key trading partners continue to struggle with economic difficulties. At the same time imports plunged 3.8% to 78.3 billion euros from the preceding month, whereas analysts had predicted a 1.0% decrease. As a result, the nation's trade surplus rose to 20.7 billion euros, from 19.2 billion euros in September, Destatis reported. The downswing was mainly due to sluggish demand in the world's second-biggest economy, China, which is experiencing its slowest rate of economic growth in a quarter of century. The recession in Brazil and Russia, which has been severely hit by western sanctions related to the conflict in Ukraine and by low oil prices, also reinforced the pain.
However, annualized data suggested Germany's economy is still performing robustly. Overall exports increased by 3.3% compared with the same period last year, with exports to the EU surging 6.4%, while imports gained 3%. Furthermore, Bundesbank's provisional data showed Germany's current account declined to 23.0 billion euros.
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