The German trade surplus grew in April, as imports declined faster than exports, official data has showed.
Europe's biggest economy exported goods worth a total €90.0 billion in seasonally-adjusted terms in April, 1.7% less than in March, the national statistics office Destatis said.
Imports were down 4.8% at €73.9 billion, so that the seasonally-adjusted trade surplus increased to €16.1 billion from €14.0 billion in March.
Taking the first four months of 2012 as a whole, German exports rose 5.2% over the year-earlier period to €363.1 billion in unadjusted terms, while imports were up 3.3% at €303.2 billion.
That meant the January-April trade surplus increased by 15.9% to €59.8 billion.
