The eurozone trade with the rest of the world was in balance in May, the European Union's (EU) statistics bureau Eurostat said on Friday.

It rose from a deficit of 4.9 billion euros (6.9 billion US dollars) a year ago. In April, the 17 EU nations that use the euro recorded a trade deficit of 4.8 billion euros (6.7 billion dollars).

In May, compared with the previous month, eurozone exports rose by 1.5 percent and imports by 0.2 percent.

For the 27-nation EU, its trade deficit declined to 13.2 billion euros (18.6 billion dollars), from a deficit of 16.0 billion euros (22.5 billion dollars) a year ago and a deficit of 16.4 billion euros (23.1 billion dollars) in April.

In April, EU exports rose by 1.1 percent and imports by 0.7 percent on monthly basis.