The current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €28.4 billion in October 2016 (see Table 1). This reflected surpluses for goods (€26.0 billion), services (€9.3 billion) and primary income (€6.1 billion), which were partly offset by a deficit for secondary income (€13.0 billion).

The 12-month cumulated current account for the period ending in October 2016 recorded a surplus of €344.3 billion (3.2% of euro area GDP), compared with one of €320.2 billion (3.1% of euro area GDP) for the 12 months to October 2015 (see Table 1 and Chart 1). This was due to increases in the surpluses for goods (from €340.2 billion to €364.8 billion) and services (from €60.0 billion to €62.4 billion), as well as a decrease in the deficit for secondary income (from €132.5 billion to €129.9 billion). These were partly offset by a decrease in the surplus for primary income (from €52.6 billion to €47.1 billion).