French current account deficit worsens in April

PARIS: France's current account deficit widened to 4.8 billion euros in April from 4.1 billion the previous month, primarily due to an increase in imports of goods, according to data released on Tuesday.

The current account deficit -- the shortfall in trade in goods and services, investment and other monetary transfers -- was worsened as the deficit in the trade in goods expanded to 7.3 billion euros from 6.3 billion euros in March, the Bank of France said.

The surplus in services rose to 1.3 billion euros from 1.0 billion euros.

The balance of direct investments worsened to a deficit of 17.7 billion euros from 7.9 billion euros the previous month, primarily due to the acquisition of US biotech firm Genzyme by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011