BRUSSELS. Dec 1 1: The 11 countries of the future euro zone had a trade surplus of 6.6 billion ecus (7.7 billion dollars) in August, the EU staUstics office said yesterday. reports AFP. ’
in the first eight months of this year the 15 countries of the European Union had a trade surplus of 53.2 billion ecus from 55.7 billion ecus during the same period of last year, owing mainly to a massive surplus by Germany and despite a huge deficit by Britain.
On January 1. one ecu will be equivalent to one euro.
In August 1997. the 11 countries had a trade surplus with the rest of the world of 6.3 billion ecus.
Trade between the European Union (EU) and the United States increased strongly in the first eight months. EU exports to the United States had risen by 14 per cent and imports by 14 per cent.
But exports to Japan had slumped by 14 per cent.
Exports to China had increased by 17 per cent and imports from China by 16 per
Germany was the main force behind the surplus, contributing a surplus of 45.9 billion ecus in the first eight months but Britain contributew a'deficit of 27.1 from a
deficit of 16.4 billion ecus In the same period of last year.
Another report says the European Union, and the euro zone, showed economic growth • of 0.6 per cent in the third quar-। ter from the figure for the second quarter, the EU staflsficS office Eurostat reported yesterday. reports AFP.
The figures signalled that growth has accelerated from performance in the first two quarters of this year.
In the second quarter the 15 countries of the European Union had shown growth of 0.4 per cent, and the 11 countries in the future euro zone had shown growth of 0.3 per cent.
The US economy showed growth of 1.0 per cent in the third quarter from 0.5 per cent in the second quarter, but the Japanese economy contracted by 0.7 per cent in the third quarter from contraction of 0.7 per cent in the second quarter.
Another factor had been fixed capital investment which had risen by 0.9 per cent in the whole of the EU and by 0.6 per cent in the euro zone.