FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The euro zone’s current account swung back to a small surplus in June on an improvement in the trade of services and higher primary income, which includes earning from investments abroad, European Central Bank data showed on Friday.
The 19-country currency bloc has run a large current account surplus for the past decade thanks to massive exports of goods and services but its fortunes have turned since Russia’s war in Ukraine pushed up its import bill for raw materials from natural gas to metals.
The adjusted current account surplus was 4.24 billion euros in June after a 6.93 billion euro deficit in May. A year earlier, the bloc’s surplus was 27.7 billion euros.
In the 12 months to June, the current account surplus narrowed to 0.9% of GDP from 3.1% in the preceding year.
(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Toby Chopra)