Greek current account shows surplus in September, for third consecutive month
Greece’s current account balance showed a surplus for the third month in a row in September, when it reached a surplus of 775 million euros, compared to a deficit of 1.1 billion euros a year earlier.
“The trade deficit fell by 700 million euro, as a result of a 512 million euros decrease in the trade deficit excluding oil and ships, as well as declines of 68 million euros and 120 million euros in the net import bill for oil and ships, respectively,” said the Bank of Greece in a statement on Monday.
“The trade deficit excluding oil and ships shrank due to the considerably reduced import bill (down by 726 million euros or 30.3 percent), despite the fact that export receipts fell by 213 million euros or 15.9 percent in September 2012.”
“The surplus of the services balance narrowed by 75 million euros as a result of a decrease in net receipts from «other» services and transport services, while net travel receipts remained almost unchanged,” added the central bank.
The income account showed a surplus of 144 million euros, compared with a deficit of 939 million euros in September 2011, while the current transfers balance showed a deficit of 66 million euros, compared with a deficit of 203 million euros in September 2011.
During the January-September 2012 period the current account deficit contracted by 11.3 billion euros or 76.5% year-on-year, to 3.5 billion euros.
“This development primarily reflects a significant decline of 5.3 billion euros in the trade deficit, a 4.4-billion-euro decrease in the income account deficit, as well as increases of 933 million euros and 590 million euros in the surpluses of the current transfers balance and the services balance, respectively,” said the Bank of Greece.
