According to preliminary figures provided by the European Statistical Office (Eurostat), there was a deficit of 30.9 billion Euros in the EU27 balance of current accounts in the second quarter 2008. This deficit is about as big as in the same quarter last year (30.4 billion Euros), but exceeds that in the first quarter 2008 (20.1 billion Euros) by almost 50% percent.
This figure is mainly due to an enormous deficit in the trade balance which increased by about 20 billion Euros as compared to the same quarter last year (from -28.3 billion Euros in the second quarter 2007 to -49.0 billion Euros in the second quarter this year). In the balance of services there was a surplus of 20.5 billion Euros after a surplus of 24.5 billon Euros in the same quarter last year.
In the second quarter 2008 the EU27 registered a surplus in its balance of current accounts with respect to the USA (+17.8 billion Euros), Switzerland (+6.8 billion), Canada (+3.5 billion) and Hongkong (+1.6 billion) and a deficit in relation with China (-29.2 billion), Russia (-14.2 billion) and Japan (-6.1 billion). 