Germany set for 2012 record trade surplus

Germany is set for a record trade surplus this year, increasing 10 percent compared to 2011, to reach 174 billion euros ($221 billion), the BGA German federation of exporters and wholesalers said Tuesday. "Despite a weakening at the end of the year, our foreign trade is facing a new all-time high this year," its president Anton Boerner said in a written statement. Exports, which remain the motor of the German economy, Europe's biggest, are expected to grow by four percent to 1.1 trillion euros in 2012 while imports are set for three-percent growth to 929 billion euros, in nominal terms, it said. Boerner reiterated that the volume of foreign trade, or the total of exports and imports, would surpass the 2.0-trillion-euro mark this year for the first time. But the federation remains cautious. "The debt crisis with all its dangers will accompany Germany for a long time yet," its president warned. In April, the BGA forecast a stable trade surplus of 159 billion euros for 2012 compared with the year earlier but has since revised downwards its projections for imports and, to a lesser extent, exports.