According to the latest revisions, the EU27 external current account recorded a deficit of 39.5 billion euro in the third quarter of 2008, compared with a deficit of 9.7 bn in the third quarter of 2007 and a deficit of 29.6 bn in the second quarter of 2008.

In the third quarter of 2008, compared with the third quarter of 2007, the deficit of the goods account increased significantly (-64.0 bn euro compared with -38.7 bn) and the surplus of the services account diminished (+19.3 bn compared with +23.5 bn). The surplus of the income account (+19.4 bn compared with +19.6 bn) remained nearly stable, as did the deficit of the current transfers account (-14.3 bn compared with -14.1 bn).

The surplus recorded in the services account (+19.3 bn euro) is mainly the result of surpluses in financial services (+8.1 bn), "other business services", which includes miscellaneous business, professional and technical services (+7.9 bn), transportation (+5.8 bn) and computer & information services (+4.7 bn), partially offset by deficits in travel (-7.2 bn) and royalties & license fees (-3.5 bn).

In the third quarter of 2008, the EU27 external current account recorded a surplus with the USA (+24.5 bn euro), Switzerland (+7.5 bn), Canada (+2.5 bn) and Brazil (+1.9 bn), and a deficit with China (-41.9 bn), Russia (-14.2 bn) and Japan (-6.7 bn).