Eurozone trade falls into deficit

The EU is importing more goods than it is exporting

The eurozone trade balance with the rest of the world slipped into deficit in August after a big surplus in July, as exports fell by more than imports.

The deficit was 4bn euros ($6bn; £3.7bn), compared with a surplus of 12.3bn euros in July. In August last year, the deficit was 11bn euros.

The reason was a 5.8% fall in exports from July, compared with a more modest fall in imports of 1.3%.

If a country is buying more than it is selling, it will record a deficit.

The official figures from Eurostat also showed a 12.1bn-euro deficit for the European Union as a whole.

"It is worrying for eurozone recovery prospects to see that seasonally adjusted exports plunged by as much as 5.8% month-on-month in August, which more than wiped out the gains of the previous two months," said Howard Archer at IHS Global Insight.

He also said that the fall in imports "hardly points to marked improvement in domestic demand".

The eurozone, which consists of 16 countries, is still officially in recession, although its two biggest economies - Germany and France - began growing again in the April-to-June quarter.