Imports, driven by the rise in the energy bill, amounted to 63.3 billion euros and grew faster than exports, which reached 48.7 billion, specify the customs in their press release.
Over three rolling months, a measure frequently used to smooth out one-off contingencies, the trade deficit widened by 0.5 billion euros, from 13.5 billion to 14 billion euros.
The current account deficit, which includes services, also widened in July, to 5.3 billion euros, against only 1.5 billion in June, reported for its part the Banque de France.
The services surplus fell to 5.6 billion euros against 7.1 billion euros. The travel services surplus fell to 1.5 billion, against 1.7 billion, despite the excellent tourist season recorded by France this summer.
Finally, the country’s financial account recorded net capital outflows of 12.7 billion euros.
In detail, customs specify that the energy bill increased by 0.4 billion euros in July, «in the wake of the increase in imports of electricity and refined oil».
The capital goods deficit stood at 3.2 billion euros, slightly less than in June, due to a slowdown in imports, while that of trade in consumer goods remained stable at 0 .8 billion.
Finally, the intermediate goods deficit fell very slightly to 2.8 billion.