In October 2021, the current account deficit increased compared to the corresponding month of 2020, due to the deterioration of the balance of goods and the balances of primary and secondary income, which was partially offset by the improvement of the services balance.
In the period January-October 2021, the current account deficit decreased compared to the corresponding period of 2020, due to the increase in the services surplus and the improvement of the primary and secondary income balances, which were offset by the balance of goods.
Current Balance
In October 2021, the current account deficit widened by € 45 million compared to the corresponding month of 2020 and stood at € 781 million.
The increase in the goods deficit is due to the increase in imports, which was higher than in exports. Exports increased by 44.6% and 6.9% at current and fixed prices respectively and imports by 50.2% and 12.2% at current and fixed prices respectively.
In particular, exports of non-fuel goods increased by 25.4% and 15.3% at current and fixed prices respectively and imports of non-fuel goods increased by 28.5% and 21.7% at current and fixed prices respectively.
The surplus of the services balance more than doubled, as a result of the improvement mainly of the travel balance and, to a lesser extent, the balances of transport and other services. Arrivals of non-resident travelers and related receipts increased significantly (by 124.5% and 159.8% respectively). In particular, receipts and arrivals amounted to 98.4% and 77.3% of those of October 2019 respectively. The transport surplus increased, mainly due to the improvement of the maritime transport surplus.
The primary income balance deficit increased compared to the corresponding month of 2020, due to the increase in net payments for interest, dividends and profits. The secondary income deficit increased compared to the corresponding month of 2020, due to the increase in general government payments.
In the period January-October 2021, the current account deficit decreased by 2.7 billion euros compared to the corresponding period of 2020 and amounted to 6.4 billion euros.
The increase in the goods deficit is due to the larger increase in imports compared to exports in absolute terms. More specifically, exports increased by 34.0% and 13.5% at current and fixed prices respectively and imports increased by 32.1% at current prices and 10.9% at constant prices. In particular, at current prices exports and imports of non-fuel goods increased at almost the same rate (25.7% and 25.6%, respectively), while at constant prices they increased by 20.0% and 23.0% respectively.
The increase in the services surplus is primarily due to the improvement in the travel services balance, which, however, was partially offset by the reduction in the transport surplus. Arrivals of non-resident travelers increased by 93.8% and related receipts by 142.0% compared to the same period of 2020, representing 46% and 58% of the respective levels of 2019. Net receipts from transfers decreased by 9.7%.
The primary income balance was in surplus compared to the deficit in the corresponding period of 2020, mainly due to the reduction of net payments for interest, dividends and profits, while the surplus of the secondary income balance increased due to the rise in net general government revenues.
Capital Balance
In October 2021, the capital balance recorded a deficit, compared to a surplus in the corresponding month of 2020, and amounted to 104 million euros. In the period January-October 2021, the capital surplus recorded an increase of 1.3 billion euros compared to the same period in 2020 and amounted to 3.1 billion euros.
Total Balance of Current Transactions and Capital
In October 2021, the deficit of the total current account and capital balance (which corresponds to the needs of the economy for foreign financing) increased compared to October 2020 and amounted to 884 million euros. In January-October 2021, the current account and current account deficit narrowed relative to the corresponding period of 2020, from € 7.3 billion to € 3.3 billion.
Financial Transaction Balance
In October 2021, in the category of direct investments, residents ‘receivables from abroad increased by 24 million euros and residents’ liabilities from abroad increased by 224 million euros, which includes the completion of the acquisition of an additional 16 % of the shares of PPA SA by COSCO SHIPPING (Hong Kong) Co., Limited.
In portfolio investments, the decrease in residents ‘receivables from abroad is due to the decrease by 268 million euros of their holdings in bonds and interest-bearing bills abroad, which was partially offset by the increase (by 207 million euros) of residents’ holdings in shares non-resident businesses. The reduction of their liabilities is due to the reduction of non-residents’ investments in bonds and interest-bearing bills of the Greek State by 221 million euros.
In the category of other investments, there was an increase in residents ‘receivables from abroad, mainly due to the statistical adjustment (446 million euros) associated with the issuance of banknotes and the increase of residents’ investments in deposits and repos abroad by 307 million euros. . The increase in their liabilities is due to the increase by 1.6 billion euros of non-resident placements in deposits and repos in Greece (including the TARGET account).
In the period January-October 2021, in the category of direct investments, residents’ receivables from abroad increased by 860 million euros and residents’ liabilities to foreigners, corresponding to non-residents’ direct investments in Greece, increased by 4 , 0 billion euros.
In portfolio investment, the increase in residents’ receivables from abroad is mainly due to the increase by 16.2 billion euros of residents’ investments in bonds and bonds abroad and the increase by 1.7 billion euros of residents’ investments in shares in abroad. The increase in their liabilities is due to the increase in the holdings of non-residents in bonds and interest-bearing bills of the Greek State by 2.7 billion euros and in shares of Greek companies by 1.3 billion euros.
In the category of other investments, the increase in residents’ receivables from abroad is due to the increase of 2.5 billion euros in loans granted to non-residents and the statistical adjustment related to the issuance of banknotes by 3 billion euros, the which was partially offset by a € 1.3 billion reduction in resident deposits and repos abroad. The increase in their liabilities mainly reflects the 12.2 billion euro increase in non-resident placements in deposits and repos in Greece (including the TARGET account).
At the end of October 2021, the country’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to 12.3 billion euros.
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Source From: Capital
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