Eurozone current account surplus declines in January

dpa-AFX/GNA – The euro area current account surplus declined in January, the European Central Bank said Monday.

The current account logged a surplus of 30 billion euros (35.7 billion dollars) in January, down from 37 billion euros in the previous month.

The surplus on trade in goods rose to 39 billion euros from 38 billion in December. Likewise, the surplus on services increased to 12 billion euros from 11 billion.

Primary income showed a shortfall of 4 billion euros versus a surplus of 1 billion a month ago. The deficit on secondary income widened to 17 billion euros from 14 billion.

During the twelve months to January, the current account surplus totaled 263 billion euros, equivalent to 2.3 per cent of GDP. This was up from 262 billion euros a year earlier.

The financial account surplus increased notably to 315 billion euros in January from 196 billion last year.