Euro zone trade surplus surges as imports drop
The euro zone's trade surplus with the rest of the world rose sharply in June to 21.2 billion euros - or $25 billion.
Official data released Friday (August 14) showed a drop in the imports of goods outpaced the fall of exports in the bloc, as global trade was hit by the health crisis.
EU agency Eurostat said the trade surplus was wider than that posted a year earlier, and more than twice as large as it was in May.
Official estimates showed this year-on-year improvement was caused by a 12.2% drop of imports - more than offsetting the 10% fall in exports.
From January to June, the bloc's exports to the rest of the world fell by 12.7% to about 1 trillion euros, compared with the same period in 2019.
Trade among euro zone countries was also down.
In a separate release, Eurostat said the bloc went through the biggest drop in employment ever recorded in Q2.
It fell 2.8% compared with the previous quarter - once again outlining the impact of the global health crisis.
And the agency confirmed the estimates it released in July of a record fall in the bloc's GDP last quarter.
That fell 12.1% compared to the first three months of the year.
