Germany's trade surplus surged in June, data released on Thursday showed, offering some relief after a series of figures that suggested the economy was heading for a severe slowdown.
The trade surplus grew to 19.7 billion euros (30.4 billion dollars), from a revised 14.3 billion in May, the federal statistics office Destatis said in a statement.
Germany's current account, its widest measure of trade and financial transactions with other countries, showed a surplus of 18.5 billion euros, more than double the May level of 7.7 billion, Destatis said.
Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a trade surplus of 15.0 billion euros and a current account surplus of 12.0 billion.
German exports jumped by an unadjusted 7.9 percent in June from the same month a year earlier, while imports increased by 5.3 percent.
When corrected for seasonal and other calendar effects, exports were up by 4.2 percent to 85.9 billion euros, while imports had slipped by 0.1 percent to 67.8 billion.
The figures were good news following a string of numbers that had indicated the German economy was slumping heavily after initially appearing to have withstood a global slowdown.
On Wednesday, data showed that industrial orders had fallen in June for a record seventh month in a row, suggesting that trade figures in the coming months were likely to show weaker exports, the main engine of economic growth.
A report in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung on Tuesday quoted government experts as saying that in the second quarter of 2008, the German economy had contracted by around 1.0 percent.
Official figures on the second quarter will be published on August 14.
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