9 March (BNS)

The current account of Estonia's balance of payments had a surplus for the third successive year in 2011 and the size of the surplus was 506 million euros, equal to 3.2% of gross domestic product (GDP).

Compared with 2010 the structure of the current account did not change much, with the gap in the trade account and the surplus of the services account narrowing somewhat and net outflow of income becoming bigger, the Bank of Estonia said.

While the first half of last year was characterised by a record increase in the export of goods, in the second half of the year growth in goods exports began to gradually decelerate as a result of a sudden deterioration of the external environment. The strained economic situation did not yet have an impact on the export of services.

The surplus in the export and import of goods in 2011 was approximately of the same size as in 2010, making up 1.1 billion euros or 6.7% of GDP.

The capital outflow in the financial account that began in 2010 continued also in 2011, the surplus of the current account being one of the reasons behind it. The outflow mostly was made up of cash and deposits of credit institutions.