A Bank of Greece report on Greece’s balance of payments in September noted a current account surplus of 1.2 billion euros, a 348 million euro increase, as compared to 348 million euros for the same month last year.
The surplus hike is attributed to an increase in the surplus of services balance and, secondarily, to a decrease in the deficit of the balance of goods, partly offset by a rise in the deficits of the primary and secondary income accounts.
The narrowing deficit of the oil balance led to the decrease in the deficit of the balance of goods, according to the bank’s September bulletin, which was released today.
Non-oil exports of goods rose by 5.7 percentage points at current prices, and 2.3 percentage points at constant prices.
The rise in the surplus of services balance is attributed mainly to an increase in the travel balance, as non-resident arrivals and corresponding receipts increased by 11.8 percentage points and 15.5 percentage points, respectively.
“The surplus of the travel balance grew solely on account of higher net sea transport receipts,” the report said.
Between January and September, 2017, the 1.3 billion euro current account surplus was double that in same period last year, reflecting improvement in the services balance.
Secondly , the primary and secondary income account more than offset the deficit increase in the balance of goods, which in turn was due to a rising deficit in the oil balance.
Non-oil export of goods rose by 8.7 percentage points at current prices and 5.8 percentage points at constant prices.
The services balance surplus is attributed to an “increase in all its main components”. In the travel balance, non-resident arrivals and receipts rose by 10.3 percentage points.
