FRANKFURT (Archyde.com) – Euro zone current accounts turned to a sharp deficit in July as exports surged as oil and gas prices soared, statistics released by the European Central Bank (ECB) on Tuesday showed. ).
The region’s current account balance has been in surplus for the past ten years thanks to the strength of exports of goods and services from the 19 countries that have adopted the single currency. But the situation was called into question by the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army and its repercussions on energy prices.
The current account balance thus shows a deficit of 19.9 billion euros for the month of July alone after a surplus of 4.2 billion in June.
In July 2021, it recorded a surplus of 28.9 billion euros.
Over the 12 months to the end of July, the current account surplus in the euro zone represented only 0.5% of gross domestic product (GDP), against 3.1% over the previous 12 months.
The ECB forecasts a current account deficit of 0.3% of GDP for the whole of 2022.
(Report Balazs Koranyi, French version Marc Angrand, told by Sophie Louet)