The euro zone's current account surplus widened in July but the annualised surplus remained on a downward trend as expected, European Central Bank data showed today.
The working-day and seasonally-adjusted current account surplus in the euro zone rose to €25.1 billion in July from €22.8 billion in June, even as the balance from goods trade narrowed.
The rolling 12-month surplus shrank to 3% of the bloc's gross domestic product from 3.5% a year earlier, confirming the ECB's expectation of a narrowing gap in 2017.
The ECB expects the surplus to ease to 2.9% of GDP this year from 3.5% in 2016, then to hover around 2.5%over the next two years.
Based on unadjusted data, the July surplus rose to €32.5 billion July from €29.8 billion in June, the data showed.
