The current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €36.1 billion in November 2016 (see Table 1). This reflected surpluses for goods (€30.9 billion), primary income (€12.1 billion) and services (€4.8 billion), which were partly offset by a deficit for secondary income (€11.7 billion).

The 12-month cumulated current account for the period ending in November 2016 recorded a surplus of €358.1 billion (3.4% of euro area GDP), compared with one of €319.9 billion (3.1% of euro area GDP) for the 12 months to November 2015 (see Table 1 and Chart 1). This was due to increases in the surpluses for goods (from €344.3 billion to €370.2 billion) and services (from €59.2 billion to €68.4 billion), as well as a decrease in the deficit for secondary income (from €132.7 billion to €127.6 billion). These were offset to a limited extent by a decrease in the surplus for primary income (from €49.1 billion to €47.1 billion).