Current account surplus in Q3 up 16% y-o-y

In the third quarter of 2017, Croatia had a current account surplus of EUR 3.87 billion, up 16.3% on the year, owing to, despite a bigger trade deficit, positive trends in services, notably tourism, which generated nearly EUR 6 billion, the central bank said on Friday

The deficit on the goods account in Q3 increased by 12.2% to EUR 2.14 billion. Goods imports rose by 11.2% to EUR 5.05 billion, while goods exports rose 10.5% to EUR 2.9 billion.

The surplus on the services account rose 7.3% to EUR 5.94 billion, mainly owing to revenues generated by foreign tourists. Tourism revenues in Q3 reached EUR 5.99 billion, up 9.8% on the year.

In the first nine months of the year, revenues generated by foreign guests reached EUR 8.72 billion, up 10.4% on the year. In 2016, foreign tourists generated EUR 8.63 billion.

The primary income account recorded a EUR 321.9 million deficit in Q3, down 47.6% on the year. On the secondary income account, the suficit increased 25.2% to EUR 388.2 million.

The surplus on the current and capital accounts in Q3 was 4.7% of GDP, or 3.7% excluding the effect of the crisis in the indebted Agrokor group on bank profits.

(Hina/FaH)

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