The Bank of Greece (BoG) on Monday announced that the current account balance showed a deficit of -274 million, down by -1.3 billion or 82.8 percent year-on-year. It noted that the trade deficit narrowed by -356 million, as a result of a -375 million decrease in the trade deficit excluding oil and ships, as well as a ¬200 million decline in the net import bill for ships.
By contrast, the net oil import bill increased by -219 million or 40.7 percent, partly offsetting this improvement.
The trade deficit excluding oil and ships shrank due to the considerable reduction of the import bill by -368 million or 16.2 percent, whereas export receipts rose by a mere 0.7 percent.amna
In the same period under review, the services surplus contracted by -69 million owing to lower net travel receipts.
Over the same period there was only a small increase in net transport receipts and a small decline in net payments for "other" services. In more detail, compared with June 2011, travel spending in Greece by non-residents declined by 7.1 percent, while travel spending abroad by residents of Greece increased by 10.8 percent; as a result, net receipts fell by -116 million.
In the same month, non-residents' arrivals dropped by 6.4 percent, according to data from the Bank of Greece's border survey. Gross transport receipts (chiefly from merchant shipping) fell by 7.4 percent and the corresponding payments decreased by 17.2 percent, resulting in net receipts rising by -18 million. (AMNA)
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