Current, capital account balance negative at €700M

Portugal’s combined current and capital account balance in January was negative by €700 million, compared to -€456 million in the same period in 2018, the Bank of Portugal (BdP) said on Wednesday.

“This development was due to the goods, services and capital accounts, partially offset by the primary and secondary income accounts,” the Bank said regarding January 2019.

“The goods account deficit increased by €382 million and the services account surplus decreased by €72 million, due to items under transportation and other services excluding travel,” the Bank said.

In the first month of the year, exports of goods and services grew by 5.0% (4.7% in goods and 5.6% in services).

Imports rose by 11.1% (10.4% in goods and 14.5% in services).

“In January 2019 the primary income account deficit decreased by €163 million compared to January 2018, standing at €153 million,” it said, explaining that “this change essentially resulted from the decrease in interest paid to non-residents.”

According to the Bank, “these movements were partially compensated by a reduction in liabilities, with the reduction of deposits of non-residents and the responsibilities of Bank of Portugal to the Eurosystem.”