Tuesday December 23, 10:51 AM
Eurozone payments deficit 'narrows to 6.4 bln euros'
FRANKFURT (AFP) - The eurozone payments current account deficit narrowed in October to 6.4 billion euros (nine billion dollars), figures released on Tuesday by the European Central Bank showed.
The ECB current account, the broadest measure of the 15-nation eurozone's trade in goods and services, had reached 8.8 billion euros in September, revised figures showed.
The bank (NASDAQ: TBHS - news) had initially reported the September figure as a deficit of 10.6 billion euros.
On an annual basis, the 12-month cumulated current account swung in October to a deficit of 42.5 billion euros, about 0.5 percent of the eurozone gross domestic product (GDP), from a surplus of 48.9 billion in the same period a year earlier.
The eurozone's financial account included net inflows of 108 billion euros, the result of 122 billion euros in portfolio investment inflows and 14 billion euros in net outflows for direct investment, an ECB statement said.
Inflows were boosted by foreign purchases of debt instruments such as bonds and government treasury bills worth 116 billion euros, and investments in eurozone stocks, which showed a net influx of five billion euros.
Eurozone governments are expected to issue more bonds in 2009 to pay for plans aimed at buffering their economies from a possibly severe economic recession.
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