BERLIN, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The trade surplus of the 19-member Eurozone increased slightly in May, driven largely by strong German exports, official data released by Eurostat showed on Friday.
The currency union's seasonally adjusted surplus reached 19.7 billion euros (22.49 billion U.S. dollars) in May 2017. Imports increased by 1.6 percent and exports by 2.1 percent compared to April 2017. The figures released came close to official forecasts of a 20 billion euros surplus.
Germany, the Eurozone's largest economy, saw its trade surplus widen to 22 billion euros in May from 20.7 billion euros in the same month last year. Exports grew by 14.1 percent year on year to a total of 110.6 billion euros.
Throughout the Eurozone, exports of goods rose alongside imports in May.
Total exports stood at 183.7 billion euros, total imports at 164 billion euros respectively.
