PARIS (Reuters) – France posted a record trade deficit in November as spiralling energy prices drove the value of imports higher, official data showed on Friday.
The deficit surged to 9.727 billion euros ($10.99 billion)from 7.697 billion a month earlier with the value of imports reaching an-all time high of 52.5 billion euros versus 51.3 billion in October.
Like many countries across the world, France has been in the grip of an energy crisis since last year, when the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions put huge demands on depleted stocks of natural gas, sending prices of gas, related commodities and carbon emission permits to their highest in years.
Other official data showed a 0.4% decline in French industrial output in November versus October, confounding a median forecast by economists for a 0.5% increase.
Consumer spending, at +0.8%, was a little higher than the +0.5% forecast.
($1 = 0.8850 euros)
(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten, Editing by Richard Lough)
