The surplus recorded in the services account (+28.9 bn euro) is mainly the result of surpluses in "other business services", which includes miscellaneous business, professional and technical services (+9.4 bn), computer & information services (+6.4 bn), financial services (+6.3 bn), transportation (+5.6 bn), construction services (+2.3 bn), insurance services (+1.8 bn) and travel (+0.7 bn), only partially offset by a deficit in royalties & license fees (-1.5 bn).
In the second quarter of 2011, the EU27 external current account recorded a surplus with Switzerland (+16.3 bn euro), the USA (+13.0 bn), Hong Kong (+6.2 bn), Brazil (+5.6 bn), Canada (+3.8 bn) and India (+2.0 bn), and a deficit with China (-30.2 bn), Russia (-17.9 bn) and Japan (-6.7 bn).
Financial Account
In the second quarter of 2011, the EU27 made direct investments abroad of 103.0 bn euro, compared with 85.5 bn in the same quarter of 2010, while foreign direct investors made investments in the EU27 of 62.0 bn, compared with 19.2 bn in the same quarter of 2010. Portfolio investments recorded a net inflow of 192.0 bn, compared with 192.8 bn in the second quarter of 2010.
Current account of Member States (including intra-EU flows)
As concerns the total (intra-EU plus extra-EU) current account balances of the EU27 Member States5, eleven recorded surpluses and thirteen deficits, while Estonia and Latvia were in balance in the second quarter of 2011. The highest surpluses were observed in Germany (+27.2 bn euro), the Netherlands (+13.2 bn), Sweden (+6.8 bn) and Belgium (+6.7 bn), and the largest deficits in France (-14.3 bn), Italy (-13.8 bn euro), Spain (-9.9 bn) and Greece (-5.7 bn).
