Germany’s trade surplus hit a record high in April compared to the corresponding period a year ago on surge in exports to member nations of the European Union. However, the adjusted surplus is expected to provide structural support to the euro currency.
Germany recorded a headline trade surplus of EUR25.6bn for April from EUR21.8bn in April 2015. The seasonally-adjusted surplus increased to EUR24.0bn from a revised EUR23.7bn the previous month, compared with an expected decline for the month, provisional data released by the Federal Statistics office, Germany, showed.
German exports rose 1.5 percent in the year to April despite a decline in monthly shipments with a stronger trend within the EU helping to offset a decline to countries outside the Eurozone. Imports rose by 0.2 percent from the previous year. The overall German current account surplus expanded to EUR93.9 billion for the first four months of 2016 from EUR79.8 billion the previous year despite a slight widening in the services deficit.
Looking from a dissected point of view, exports to EU member states increased 3.8 percent over the year over the first four months of the year with strong growth to countries outside the Eurozone. In contrast, there was a 1.8 percent decline in exports to countries outside the EU. There was also a decline of 3.3 percent in imports from countries outside the EU. Concerns are looming that other Eurozone countries will lose market share to Germany, which will tend to intensify internal economic and political Eurozone stresses.
Further, German exporters remain in a strong global position on competitiveness grounds, which is expected to continue to underpin the trade surplus in the short term. The structural surplus is also deemed to make it difficult for the ECB to push the Euro substantially weaker even with the substantial quantitative easing programme, reports said.
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