BRUSSELS - THE 15-nation eurozone saw its trade gap with the rest of the world narrow in Sept, but the performance pales when compared to the surplus registered in the same month last year, official figures showed on Monday.

The first estimate figure showed a deficit of 5.6 billion euros (S$10.8 billion), much better than the revised 9.4 billion deficit recorded in Aug and but falling short of analysts' predictions of a 5.0-billion-euro shortfall according to Dow Jones newswires.

In Sept 2007, before the global financial and economic crises, the 15 nations sharing the euro currency enjoyed an exterior trade surplus of 2.9 billion euros.

Eurozone exports rose by 2.2 per cent in Sept to reach 137.1 billion euros while imports also rose, by 2.1 per cent to 142.7 billion euros.

For the 27-nation European Union as a whole the deficit in Sept, according to the first estimate, stood at 23.0 billion euros, smaller than the Aug figure of 27.5 billion.

The Jan to Aug figures showed the effect of the high cost of energy imports on the EU.

Over that period the EU energy deficit rose to a whopping 253.7 billion euros, compared to 169.4 billion euros for the same period last year. -- AFP