EU current account deficit widens in third quarter

The European Union (EU)'s current account deficit widened to 22.9 billion euros (29.7 billion U.S. dollars) in the third quarter of this year from 22 billion euros (28.5 billion U.S. dollars) the previous quarter, provisional figures of the EU statistical office Eurostat showed Tuesday.

It was also up from the 20.6 billion euro (26.7 billion U.S. dollars) deficit in the third quarter of last year.

The 25-nation bloc's trade in services recorded a surplus of 14.8 billion euro (19.1 billion U.S. dollar) in the third quarter, up from the 11.2 billion euro (14.5 billion U.S. dollar) surplus a year ago but down from the 20.7 billion euro surplus (26.8 billion U.S. dollar) in the second quarter this year.

The EU's deficit in the third quarter represented 0.8 percent of its Gross Domestic Product in that period.

Source: Xinhua