Greece current account deficit rose in December

Bank of Greece said, in December 2018, the current account recorded a deficit of € 1.5 billion, increased by € 41 million compared to the same month of 2017. The widening of the deficit was due to a deteriorating balance of goods, while services and primary balances and secondary incomes have improved.

The goods balance deficit increased, primarily due to the worsening of the non-fuel balance and, secondarily, due to the deterioration of the fuel balance. It is noted that total exports of goods decreased by 3.5% (non-fuel exports remained unchanged) at constant prices and total imports of goods declined marginally (imports of non-fuel goods increased by 3.4%). The surplus in the services balance showed a slight increase due to the improvement in the transport balance due to the increase in net receipts from maritime transport by 13.9% compared to December 2017. The improvement in the transport balance was partly offset by the deterioration on the one hand, the balance of other services and on the other hand the balance of travel. For the latter, arrivals of non-resident travelers and related receipts increased by 16.8% and 40% respectively, but the relative payments increased (by 53.2%). Finally, the improvement in the primary income account is due to the decrease in net payments for interest, dividends and profits.

In 2018, the current account showed a deficit of € 5.3 billion, up by € 2.1 billion from that of 2017. This development is due to the deterioration of goods and primary income balances, which was partly offset by the improvement mainly of the services balance and secondarily of the secondary income balance.