Current account surplus decreases in July
Greece’s current account surplus decreased in July year-on-year due to a deterioration in the balance of goods, the balance of services and the primary income account, while the secondary income account improved slightly, the Bank of Greece reported on Friday.
In January-July 2024, the current account deficit increased by 1.3 billion euros year-on-year and stood at €8.6 billion.
This primarily reflected an increase of the goods deficit, as exports dropped while imports increased. At current prices, goods exports fell by 1.3% (‑4.3% at constant prices) and goods imports grew by 4.1% (4.8% at constant prices).
Non-oil goods exports at current prices declined by 2.7%, while the corresponding imports increased by 5.4% (‑5.6% and 5.7% at constant prices, respectively).
In January-July, the deficit of the combined current and capital account (which corresponds to the economy’s needs for financing from abroad) increased year-on-year and amounted to €9.1 billion.
Foreign direct investment in the same period showed a €978.1 million net flow under residents’ external assets and a €2.6 billion net flow under residents’ external liabilities, representing non-residents’ direct investment in Greece.
Under portfolio investment, a rise in residents’ external assets is mostly attributed to an increase of €3.3 billion in residents’ holdings of foreign bonds and treasury bills.
