Portugal Trade Deficit Widens In March

(RTTNews) - Portugal's foreign trade shortfall increased in March from a year ago as imports grew faster than exports, figures from Statistics Portugal showed on Friday.

The trade deficit rose to EUR 2.9 billion in March from EUR 2.5 billion in the same month last year.

Exports climbed 10.6 percent year-over-year in March, and imports were 11.6 percent higher.

Excluding fuels and lubricants, exports increased by 9.7 percent, with transactions of products in this category increasing by 28.0 percent in March, the agency said.

The country exported 19.1 percent more to Germany, mainly driven by the rise in capital goods and parts thereof and transport equipment. Meanwhile, the most notable increases were in imports from Spain by 13.1 percent.