French trade deficit worsened slightly in January

France's trade deficit edged slightly higher in January as the value of imports received a boost from falling oil prices.

The Eurozone's second largest economy saw its trade shortfall with the rest of the world worsen from €3.68bn in December to €3.71bn in January.

That was slightly better than the €4.1bn which the consensus had pendiled in.

Negative revisions to data for the previous months added €2.4bn to the cumulative deficit.

Imports increased by 0.6% month-on-month and exports by 0.6%.

Exports were set to recover in the first quarter of the year after plunging in the prior two quarters, analysts at Pantheon Macroeconomics said in a research note sent to clients.

"Exports to the U.K. rebounded in January, but slower growth across the Channel this year threatens to increase the French trade deficit. We don’t expect a collapse, though, and think the current account deficit will only increase marginally.

"Sales overseas and imports are growing at the same pace year-over-year. If this continues, the trade deficit will increase slightly in the coming months as the monthly nominal value of imports currently is about 10% higher than exports," the think-tank said in a research note sent to clients.