SYDNEY, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- A surge in imports has left Australia with a hefty trade balance deficit for the month of December, the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed on Tuesday.

Despite November's 28 million U.S. dollar excess and the expectation of a 160 million U.S. dollar surplus for the final month of the year, Australia's trade balance fell to a deficit of 1.07 billion U.S. dollars in December.

Strangely, the country's exports actually increased by over 400 million U.S. dollars or 2.0 percent, with coal and iron ore responsible for most of the growth.

But it was Australia's huge lift in imports which surprised even the most informed economists.

"The data was much weaker than everyone expected," Capital Economics chief Australia and New Zealand economist Paul Dales told Xinhua.

"But it is encouraging in a way because imports are really strong and that means businesses bought lots of things to sell or lots of things to use."

"So that's a sign of optimism because what you've got is households spending a bit more."

In total, imports shot up 6.0 percent for the month or 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, with fuel, machinery and industrial equipment making up most of the purchases.