Euro Zone Current Account Surplus Narrows in November

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The euro zone’s current account surplus narrowed in November due to a decline in the services surplus and lower primary income, as reported by European Central Bank data on Friday.

The combined current account surplus for the 20 nations sharing the euro decreased to 26.98 billion euros ($27.8 billion) in November, down from 30.17 billion euros the previous month based on calendar and seasonally adjusted data. Unadjusted figures showed a drop to 34.62 billion euros from 36.32 billion euros.

Over the 12 months leading to November, the surplus rose to 2.7% of the bloc’s GDP, up from 1.5% in the preceding 12 months, as both the goods and services surpluses increased significantly.

(Note: $1 = 0.9710 euros)