EU current account balance sees $88.45B surplus in Q3

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - The European Union's current account balance posted a surplus of €75.6 billion ($88.45 billion) in the July-September period of 2020, the EU statistical office reported Tuesday.

According to Eurostat, the EU's current account surplus was 2.2% of the 27-member bloc's gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter of 2020, while the proportion was 2.9% for the same period in 2019.

The figure was down from €87.6 billion in the previous quarter, and €100.3 billion in the same quarter of 2019.

Regarding sub-categories, Eurostat said that surplus of the goods account rose to €91.6 billion in the July-September period, up from €78.8 billion in the third quarter of 2019, while the surplus of the services was down to €9.7 billion from €32.6 billion.

Meanwhile, primary, secondary and capital accounts posted deficit of €7.2 billion, €18.5 billion and €4.2 billion, respectively.

"In the third quarter of 2020, based on non-seasonally adjusted data, the EU recorded external current account surpluses with the UK (+€54.6 bn), the US (+€32.7 bn), Switzerland (+€11.3 bn), Canada (+€6.6 bn), Brazil and Hong Kong (both +€6.2 bn), Russia (+€5.3 bn), India and Japan (both +€0.6 bn).

"Deficits were registered with China (-€29.2 bn) and the offshore financial centres (-€8.0 bn)"

Direct investment assets of the union rose in the second quarter by €45.5 billion, while direct investment liabilities was up by €16 billion.

"As a result, the EU was a net direct investor to rest of the world in the third quarter of 2020 by €61.5 billion," according to Eurostat.​​​​​​​