Record exports
May 9, 2011
The value of German exports, adjusted for work days and seasonal changes, jumped 7.3 percent to 98.2 billion euros ($141.1 billion) in March - their highest level since the Federal Statistical Office began tracking such data in 1950.
Germany is the world's second biggest exporter after China. It also received a record amount of imports in March, worth 79.4 million euros, for a monthly increase of 3.1 percent.
Compared with a year earlier, exports gained 15.8 percent, while imports advanced 16.9 percent.
Record trade
The record trade signals continued growth in the German economy, which has expanded as much as 1 percent in the first three months of the year, the government agency reported, citing data provided by the Bundesbank.
The nation's current account surplus, a measure of all trade including services, widened to 18.8 billion euros in March from 11.9 billion in February.
This year German government expects economic growth of 2.6 percent following a record expansion of 3.6 percent in 2010.
Author: John Blau (AFP, Reuters)
Editor: Sam Edmonds