Trade deficit narrows to $13 billion in June

India`s trade deficit narrowed more-than-expected to $12.96 billion in June as gold imports nearly halved from a month earlier, government data showed on Friday.

Economists in a Reuters poll had predicted that trade deficit would decline to $12.5 billion in June compared with a provisional $13.84 billion in the previous month.

Gold imports declined to $2.45 billion from almost $5 billion a month ago.

Merchandise exports for June came in at $23.56 billion, up 4.39 percent from a year ago. Goods imports for the month were $36.52 billion, up 19.01 percent from a year ago, data from the commerce and industry ministry showed.