French trade deficit widened in May

PARIS: France´s trade deficit widened in May compared to the previous month, according to seasonally adjusted data published by the customs office, with the figures coming in worse-than-forecast.

The May trade deficit stood at 6.01 billion euros ($7 billion), versus a revised figure of a 5.21 billion deficit in April.

A Reuters poll of nine analysts had given an average forecast for a May deficit of 5.1 billion euros.

The French economy has started to show signs of a slowdown after initially recovering in the wake of President Emmanuel Macron´s election in May 2017, and the customs office said on Friday that lower exports in the aerospace and automobile sectors had impacted the overall deficit figure.