The euro zone's foreign trade surplus soared more than expected in June from the previous month, data showed today.
The 13-nation single currency area's seasonally unadjusted trade surplus increased to €7.8 billion from €1.7 billion in May, European Union statistics office Eurostat said, as exports grew twice as fast as imports despite a strong euro.
Eurostat said exports grew by 9 per cent year-on-year while imports rose 4 per cent, and the euro zone's internal dispatches grew by 5 per cent.
Rises in European Central Bank interest rates had strengthened the euro against the US dollar and the Japanese yen in the second quarter of the year, prompting complaints from some politicians that the exchange rate was hurting exports.
But the currency has since weakened.
Eurostat said the seasonally adjusted trade surplus grew to €5.3 billion in June from €3.9 billion in May as exports increased by 1.7 per cent and imports by 0.7 per cent.
The data confirmed economic growth remained solid in the second quarter. But analysts have scrapped their forecasts that the ECB will raise interest rates in September, due to turmoil in global financial markets.
The Eurostat data showed that euro zone exports to the United States eased by 2 per cent in the January-May period and that the trade surplus fell to €24.6 billion from €28.4 billion a year before.
With Japan, euro zone imports grew by 3 per cent in the January-May period while exports were flat. The trade deficit with Japan widened to €10.2 billion from €9.6 billion.