According to the latest revisions, the EU27 external current account recorded a deficit of 39.5 billion euro in the third quarter of 2008, compared with a deficit of 9.7 bn in the third quarter of 2007 and a deficit of 29.6 bn in the second quarter of 2008.
In the third quarter of 2008, compared with the third quarter of 2007, the deficit of the goods account increased significantly (-64.0 bn euro compared with -38.7 bn) and the surplus of the services account diminished (+19.3 bn compared with +23.5 bn). The surplus of the income account (+19.4 bn compared with +19.6 bn) remained nearly stable, as did the deficit of the current transfers account (-14.3 bn compared with -14.1 bn).
The surplus recorded in the services account (+19.3 bn euro) is mainly the result of surpluses in financial services (+8.1 bn), “other business services”, which includes miscellaneous business, professional and technical services (+7.9 bn), transportation (+5.8 bn) and computer & information services (+4.7 bn), partially offset by deficits in travel (-7.2 bn) and royalties & license fees (-3.5 bn).
In the third quarter of 2008, the EU27 external current account recorded a surplus with the USA (+24.5 bn euro), Switzerland (+7.5 bn), Canada (+2.5 bn) and Brazil (+1.9 bn), and a deficit with China (-41.9 bn), Russia (-14.2 bn) and Japan (-6.7 bn).
This provisional data, issued by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, is subject to revision. In particular, with the publication of the first estimate for the fourth quarter of 2008 scheduled for 11 March 2009, a revised methodology will be applied. As a result, the figures for the current account will be revised from the first quarter of 2004.