Spain's trade deficit fell by 31.4 percent in the first six months of the year to 7.878 billion euros (8.92 billion US dollars) when compared with the same period of a year earlier, according to data released on Friday by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.

The Ministry said exports increased by 2.3 percent in the first half of the year to 128.041 billion euros hitting a record high, while imports fell by 0.5 percent to 135.919 billion euros.

Exports especially increased in Europe. The exports to European Union countries rose by 5.7 percent to account for 66.9 percent of the total, while those to the eurozone countries increased by 5.2 percent to represent 52.1 percent.

Spain's State Secretary of Trade Jaime Garcia-Legaz emphasized the importance of the data, saying,"Spain had not ever exported such an amount of goods in a semester."

"We surpassed Germany and also France, Italy and Britain when it comes to exports growth," Garcia-Legaz said. (1 euro=1.13 U.S. dollars)

Source : XINHUA