The current account surplus is reduced by half in 2018 due to the fall in exports

The current account surplus is reduced by half in 2018 due to the fall in exports

The index that measures the transactions of goods, services, rents and transfers in Spain with the exterior goes down to 10,100 million euros, according to the data published by the Bank of Spain

   Transactions with abroad fell sharply during the past year. The reduction of exports and the increase in imports has been the determining factor for the current account balance to reduce the surplus by half in 2018 compared to the previous year, according to data published on Thursday by the Bank of Spain.

Thus, although Spain continues to record good data after having left a few years of deficit in which it owed money abroad, the surplus last year reached 10,100 million euros , 53% less than in 2017, when the accounts were of 21,500 million.

   The index that measures the transactions of goods, services, rents and transfers in Spain with the exterior reduced its accounts mainly motivated by the fall of the surplus of goods and services , which decreased from 33,600 to 22,100 million euros in just one year. The referred to tourism and travel also fell, but less: from a surplus of 40,600 million in 2017 to 40,500 last year.

However, primary incomes (income from work, investment and subsidies) and secondary income (personal transfers, current taxes, contributions and social benefits) continue to maintain a deficit balance, although slightly below 2017 (12,000 million compared to 12,100) . The capital account , meanwhile, raised the surplus to 3,800 million, thousand above 2017.

The balance of current and capital accounts, which determines the capacity or need for financing of the economy, reached a surplus of 14,000 million, one thousand less than in 2017.

On the side of the purchase of assets, de-indebtedness and divestments, 38,400 million euros came out of Spain in 2018 , below the 53,600 million in 2017. To find this figure, we take into account what Spanish residents invest outside of their country. and what the foreigners destine to Spain, reason why the balance of this year is positive in comparison with the previous one.

Debt continues to rise
On the other hand, the Bank of Spain also published on Thursday the data with which closed the State debt in January, amounting to 1.03 billion euros , representing an increase of one tenth over December.

Thus, the state debt increases by almost 1,300 million in just one month and 38,655 million in a year, since in January 2018 it closed below one trillion euros. Of all the debt, 87% is in long-term securities, which include Treasury bills issued more than one year. The rest is distributed among short-term debt (6.7%) and other instruments (6.2%).