BRATISLAVA, September 29, (WEBNOVINY) — Preliminary data of the National Bank of Slovakia show that the deficit of Slovakia’s current account of the balance of payments widened in July by EUR 328.8 million. Compared with June, the deficit was deeper by EUR 213 million. A year ago, the deficit on the current account of the balance of payments was EUR 327.5 million.
Considering individual components of the current account, the trade balance contributed to the c/a gap too, while it posted surpluses in previous months. In the monitored period, the trade balance deficit was EUR 93.8 million, whereas in June the trade surplus was EUR 137.5 million. The trade balance results worsened in yearly terms, too, as the trade surplus in July of last year was EUR 29 million.
The other components of the current account reported a negative balance in the seventh month as well. The balance of services ended with a deficit of EUR 96.6 million, the balance of receipts with a deficit of EUR 32.9 million and the balance of current transfers with a deficit of EUR 105.5 million.
The central bank commented that the monthly deepening of the deficit on the current account was influenced in particular by the switch from a trade surplus in June to a deficit in July. Furthermore, wider gaps in the balance of services and current transfers due to higher payments to the EU budget contributed to the development, too. The only improvement was reported in the balance of receipts, which posted a lower deficit.
In July, the dynamics of the year-on-year growth of exports slowed further, namely by 5.9 points m/m to 22.8 percent. On the contrary, the growth rate of imports accelerated after a previous slowdown to 27.1 percent in July from June’s 24.8 percent. The achieved trade balance in July was worse than the central bank’s expectations, as the result of higher volume of imports, the central bank concluded.
SITA
