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FRANKFURT (AFP) –
The German trade surplus, a pillar of the eurozone economy, climbed to 13.6 billion euros (20 billion dollars) in October, figures released on Wednesday by the national statistics office showed.

In September, the biggest European economy and one of the world's leading exporters had posted a surplus of 10.4 billion euros.

German exports gained 2.5 percent from September to 74.6 billion euros, the Destatis service said.

Germany, one of the world's leading exporters, has begun to rebound from its worst recession since World War II, thanks in part to renewed foreign demand for the country's industrial goods and chemicals.

Destatis also cited German central bank figures which showed the current account of the balance of payments had a surplus of 11.0 billion euros in October.

The current account is an overall measure of all current payments into and out of a country or region.

News of the country's rebounding economy comes as official figures show that inflation is slowly regaining a foothold in the European nation.

The inflation rate in November was 0.4 percent compared to the previous year, the Federal Statistics Office said, the first time it has been positive since June 2009.

The rate was revised slightly higher from the 0.3 percent preliminary figure published in late November.

Falling energy prices are still keeping a lid on inflation in Germany, however, with prices for household gas nearly a fifth of their price a year ago during the oil price spike.

If energy were stripped out of the calculation, inflation in Germany would be 0.7 percent, the statistics office said.