According to the latest available data, the EU27 external current account recorded a deficit of 19.7 billion euro in the third quarter of 2010, compared with a deficit of 26.1 bn in the third quarter of 2009 and a deficit of 34.9 bn in the second quarter of 2010.

In the third quarter of 2010, compared with the third quarter of 2009, there was an increase in the deficit of the goods account (-28.4 bn euro compared with -18.6 bn) and of the current transfers account (-15.7 bn compared with -14.3 bn). The surplus of the services account rose (+21.1 bn compared with +15.5 bn), while the deficit of the income account turned into surplus (+3.3 bn compared with -8.7 bn).

The surplus recorded in the services account (+21.1 bn euro) is mainly the result of surpluses in "other business services", which includes miscellaneous business, professional and technical services (+9.1 bn), financial services (+6.7 bn), transportation (+5.6 bn) and computer & information services (+5.5 bn), partially offset by deficits in travel (-4.0 bn) and royalties & license fees (-3.1 bn).

In the third quarter of 2010, the EU27 external current account recorded a surplus with the USA (+25.0 bn euro), Switzerland (+11.2 bn), Hong Kong (+4.5 bn), Brazil (+3.7 bn), Canada (+2.3 bn) and India (+1.6 bn), and a deficit with China (-44.2 bn), Russia and Japan (both -7.4 bn).

Financial Account

In the third quarter of 2010, the EU27 made direct investments abroad of 17.2 bn euro, compared with 78.0 bn in the same quarter of 2009, while foreign direct investors made disinvestments in the EU27 of 6.6 bn, compared with investments of 36.5 bn in the same quarter of 2009. Portfolio investments recorded a net outflow of 9.4 bn, compared with a net inflow of 40.8 bn in the third quarter of 2009.

Current account of Member States (including intra-EU flows)For the first time in this News Release, Eurostat is publishing data on the current account balances of the EU27 Member States.

As concerns the total (intra-EU plus extra-EU) current account balances of the EU27 Member States4, fourteen recorded surpluses and thirteen deficits in the third quarter of 2010. The highest surpluses were observed in Germany (+28.6 bn euro), the Netherlands (+9.5 bn) and Sweden (+5.4 bn), and the largest deficits in the United Kingdom (-12.4 bn euro), Italy (-10.0 bn) and Spain (-9.3 bn).

These provisional data, issued by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, are based on the information available at the time of publication and are subject to revision.