Greek current account surplus shrinks in August

Greece’s current account surplus shrank in August as the country’s trade gap widened and the transfers’ balance swung to a deficit, the Bank of Greece said on Friday.

The current account balance, a key measure of economic competitiveness, showed a surplus of 1.221 billion euros ($1.67 billion) from 1.633 billion euros in the same month last year.

Tourism receipts, the country’s biggest money earner, rose 12.4 percent year-on-year to 2.845 billion euros in August, bringing total revenue in the first eight months of the year to 8.698 billion euros, up 13.7 percent year-on-year.

[Reuters]