Finland: October sees first current account

The current account posted a EUR 25 million deficit in October, according to Statistics Finland. This result followed the EUR 70 million surplus recorded in the same month last year.

The trade balance registered a surplus of EUR 33 million in October, down from the EUR 176 million surplus recorded in October 2014. On an annual basis, exports fell 11.1% in October, which followed last month’s 11.9% contraction. Imports contracted 7.6%, which marked less of a contraction compared to last month’s 8.0% decrease.

In the 12 months up to September, the current account balance recorded a EUR 0.6 billion surplus. The figure was down slightly from last month’s tally of EUR 0.7 billion and represents the lowest accumulated current account surplus in four months.

Met the why particular Consensus Forecast panelists expect the current account deficit to reach 0.1% of GDP in 2016, which is unchanged from last month’s projection. For 2017, the panel expects net inflows and outflows to be balanced, and the current account deficit to be at 0.0% of GDP.