The foreign trade surplus in Germany, the biggest economy in Europe, rose 11.1 percent to 16.2 billion euros (21.2 billion U.S. dollars) in January compared with the same period last year, the Federal Statistics Office said on Friday.

German exports grew 13.4 percent to 77.5 billion euros (100.8 billion dollars), while imports rose 9.6 percent to 61.4 billion euros (79.8 billion dollars), said the Wiesbaden-based statistics office in a report.

The exports in January increased 0.1 percent from December 2006, while imports declined 1.5 percent, it said.

Most of the export growth was attributed to an increase in sales outside Europe, it said.

Source: Xinhua