It’s a slight improvement, while France suffered last year the highest trade deficit in its history. The trade deficit on goods from France fell by 0.5 billion euros over one month in January to stand at 13.6 billion euros. In question: a reduction in the energy bill, reports this Friday INSEE, citing customs figures.
Imports were 63.6 billion, a decline of 0.8 billion euros. In detail, supplies of energy products fell by 300 million euros over one month and those of non-energy products by 500 million euros. Exports fell by just 0.3 billion euros to 50.0 billion euros, the customs said.
Industry weakness
This improvement is therefore mainly due to the “reduction of the deficit in goods due to the reduction in the energy bill”. Energy prices, which soared in 2022, fell 7.3% in January. Other good news, services were in surplus by 3.7 billion euros in January, against 2.7 billion in December. The consumer goods balance was slightly positive with a surplus of 0.1 billion euros.
The trade deficit observed for capital goods widened to 3.5 billion euros, reaching a new historic record after that of November 2021 (-3.4 billion euros), due to a slight decrease in exports. For its part, the Banque de France reported a reduction in the current account deficit to 3.6 billion euros, against 7.6 billion in December.
Cumulatively over 12 rolling months, France’s trade deficit, which had reached the historic record of 164 billion euros in 2022, continues to deteriorate, to 169.2 billion euros. This reflects the energy bill, which remains high despite everything, but also the weakness of French industry.
Avec AFP