After several months of improvement, France’s trade deficit is widening due to oil

France’s trade deficit in goods trade widened by 300 million euros in August to reach 8 billion euros, customs said on Friday.

After several months of improvement, the improvement in the trade balance is “marking the clock,” customs says.

In twelve months accumulated to the end of August, France’s trade deficit in merchandise trade stands at 130.6 billion euros. In 2022, it reached a maximum of 164 billion euros, weighed down by the cost of energy imported from abroad by France.

The widening of the trade deficit in August is explained by the deterioration of the trade balance for energy products (-6.1 billion euros in August, compared to -5.9 billion euros in July).

Excluding energy, the goods trade deficit remained almost stable, standing at 4 billion euros in August, compared to 3.9 billion in July.

In terms of trade in services, France recorded a surplus of 3.3 billion euros in August, better than in July (2 billion euros), the Bank of France said in a statement also published on Friday.

In total, the balance of current transactions (an indicator that includes both the exchange of goods, services and income) registered a deficit of 800 million euros in August, the central bank specifies.

In July, the same indicator recorded a deficit of 1.8 billion euros.