Record French trade deficit in 2022 due to high energy prices

The French trade balance recorded a new historic decline in 2022 after a record deficit in 2021, which was affected by rising energy prices.

“Unfortunately, we continue to follow the approach of yesteryear,” French Foreign Trade Minister Olivier Bishte said during a press conference during which he proposed doubling the trade deficit to 164 billion euros from a previous record of around 84.7 billion. Euro. in 2021.

France has run a chronic trade deficit with the rest of the world for twenty years, with the last trade surplus dating back to 2002, according to the National Institute of Statistics and International Studies.

“It’s a massive decline in the trade balance across the board,” he added, noting that energy had affected the bills of many of Europe’s neighbors.

Germany’s trade surplus shrank by 56% last year due to the cost of energy imports.

In Japan, between the rise in hydrocarbon prices and the depreciation of the yen, the trade deficit reached 19,971.3 billion yen (about 144 billion euros at current prices) in 2022, surpassing the previous record in 2014.

As for France, Pichet acknowledged that there was a “very large deficit” last year, highlighting in turn the record surplus recorded in the services sector.

The reason, according to him, is related to the high cost of energy due to rising prices as a result of the crisis in Ukraine and unrest in the French nuclear industry, which forced the country to import electricity.

Thus, prices for imports of energy resources increased by 2.1 times compared to the previous year.

Source: AFP.