France’s trade deficit widened to a record in October as the global economic slowdown hurt exports.
The trade gap expanded to €7.07 billion ($9.1 billion) from a revised €6 billion in September, the Trade Ministry said in a statement today.
The deficit expanded more than the median forecast of €5 billion in a survey of eight economists by Bloomberg News. "There is nothing really that can help the trade balance these days, not even falling oil prices," said Olivier Bizimana, an economist at Credit Agricole SA in Paris.
"The trend for exports is downward and with domestic demand falling, imports are also dropping."
France's trade balance worsened as exporters grappled with the economic slowdown in the euro region, where they do 72 per cent of their business.
The French economy, which unexpectedly grew in the third quarter, may fall into its first recession since 1993 next year, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the euro region slipped into recession in the three months through September.
Exports from Germany, Europe's largest economy and France's biggest trading partner, also fell in October. French consumers imported fewer goods from their neighbour and also exported €389 millions less to Germany in October, to €4.6 billion.