According to the report from Ministry for the Economy and Finance. trade deficit widened last year as higher oil prices inflated the energy import bill, offsetting an increase in exports.

The deficit widened to 59.9 billion euros from 57.8 billion euros as the energy import bill increased by 6.7 billion euros. Nonetheless, increased aircraft deliveries and to a lesser extent higher drug and computer equipment shipments allowed exports to keep pace with imports as both grew 3.8 percent last year. Excluding energy imports, the trade deficit in manufactured goods narrowed slightly to 33.3 billion euros from 35.7 billion in 2017.

In the month of December, the deficit eased to 4.7 billion euros from 4.8 billion the previous month, overshooting economists' average expectation for 4.0 billion euro.