20.03.202009:18:00UTC+00Eurozone Current Account Surplus Rises In January

The euro area current account surplus increased in January on primary income and services trade, the European Central Bank reported Friday.

The current account surplus rose to EUR 35 billion in January from EUR 33 billion in December. This was also slightly above last year's surplus of EUR 34 billion.

The surplus on trade in goods fell to EUR 27 billion from EUR 31 billion, while the surplus on services trade advanced to EUR 10 billion from EUR 6 billion.

Primary income rose sharply to EUR 14 billion from EUR 5 billion. However, the shortfall in secondary income widened to -EUR 17 billion from -EUR 10 billion in the previous month.

In the 12-month period to January, the current account recorded a surplus of EUR 364 billion or 3.1 percent of euro area GDP, compared with a surplus of EUR 359 billion or 3.1 percent of GDP in the same period last year.

In the financial account, euro area residents made net acquisitions of foreign portfolio investment securities totaling EUR 393 billion in the 12-month period to January 2020.