Greece’s current account deficit widened in December 2017 compared to the same month a year earlier on the back of a worsening in all components apart from the trade gap which shrank, the Bank of Greece said on Tuesday, according to the following Reuters report.
Central bank data showed the deficit at 1.241 billion euros from a deficit of 1.008 billion euros in December 2016 while tourism revenues rose slightly to 182 million euros from 181 million in the same month a year earlier.
In 2017, Greece’s current account deficit dropped to 1.5 billion euros, down by 418 million year-on-year.
This mainly reflected improvements in the services balance and, to a lesser extent, the primary and the secondary income accounts which more than offset a rise in the trade deficit.
The decrease in the services surplus is due to lower net travel and other services receipts, which were partly offset by higher net transport receipts as a result of a 16.2% rise in net sea transport receipts. As regards travel services, in December 2017, although receipts increased slightly (by 0.8%) despite a marginal fall in arrivals, the correspoanding payments (i.e. travel spending by residents abroad) rose significantly (by 26.5%), which resulted in lower net receipts year-on-year.
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RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: Mstyslav Chernov License: CC-BY-SA
Source: ekathimerini.com
