Eurozone adjusted current account surplus narrows in June

[FRANKFURT] The eurozone's adjusted current account surplus narrowed in June and the annualised surplus also remained on a downward trend as expected, European Central Bank data showed on Friday.

The working-day and seasonally-adjusted current account surplus in the 19-country currency bloc fell to 21.2 billion euros (S$33.98 billion) in June from 30.5 billion euros in May even as the balance from goods trade remained broadly unchanged.

The rolling 12-month surplus eased to 3.1 per cent of the bloc's gross domestic product from 3.5 per cent a year earlier, confirming the ECB's expectation of a narrowing gap in 2017.

The ECB expects the surplus to ease to 2.8 per cent of GDP this year from 3.4 per cent in 2016, then to hover just below three per cent for the next few years.

But based on unadjusted data, the surplus actually surged to 28.1 billion euros in June from 17.9 billion euros, the data showed.

REUTERS