The US current account deficit fell one percent to 195.8 billion dollars in the third quarter from 197.8 billion dollars in the previous quarter, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

The deficit amounted to 6.2 percent of gross domestic product, down from 6.4 percent in the second quarter.

But it was still at the third highest level in history. The deficit in the first three months of this year totaled 198.7 billion dollars, hitting a record.

The current account deficit is the combined balances on trade in goods and services, income, and net unilateral current transfers. For all of this year, US current account deficit is expected to set a new high, topping 700 billion dollars. That would be well above last year's 668.1 billion dollars.

In the third quarter, the deficit on goods and services rose to 182.8 billion dollars from 173.6 billion dollars in the second.

Of that, the gap on goods increased by 10.9 billion dollars to 197.9 billion. Eighty percent of that deterioration reflected higher oil prices with larger imports of cars and auto parts accounting for much of the rest.

However, the balance on income shifted to a surplus of 0.5 billion dollars in the third quarter from a deficit of 1.5 billion dollars in the second.

And unilateral current transfers showed net outflows of 13.5 billion dollars in the third quarter, down from net outflows of 22.6 billion dollars in the second.

Source: Xinhua