February 22, 2006	Wednesday	Muharram 23, 1427

BRUSSELS, Feb 21: The eurozone’s trade surplus with the rest the world shrank sharply last year as the price of oil imports soared, official EU data released Tuesday showed.

The 12 nations using the euro booked a trade surplus last year of 23.4 billion euros (27.9 billion euros) compared with 71.4 billion euros in 2004, official EU data released Tuesday showed.

Exports rose seven per cent last year from the previous year to 1.153 trillion euros while imports grew 12 per cent to 1.081 trillion euros, according to a first estimate from the European Union’s Eurostat data agency.

—Reuters