July trade deficit widens to $18.02 billion

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's trade deficit widened to a more than five year high of $18.02 billion in July, the trade ministry said on Tuesday, driven largely by a surge in oil imports.

Though merchandise exports rose 14.32 percent year-on-year in July, the trade deficit widened as oil imports surged 57.41 percent to $12.35 billion.

In June, the trade deficit stood at $16.6 billion.

Merchandise exports last month rose to $25.77 billion from a year ago, while imports rose 28.81 percent to $43.79 billion, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement.

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)