December 31 (SeeNews) - The current and capital account of Croatia's balance of payments showed a surplus of 4.7 billion euro ($3.1 billion) in the third quarter of this year, up from a 2.2 billion euro surplus the same period of 2020, mostly thanks to a sharp rise in tourism revenue, the central bank said on Friday.
“The surge in the surplus, which almost amounted to the record high of the third quarter of 2019, was foremost due to the noticeable increase in revenues from travel services and, to a much lesser extent, the rise in net remittance income and better use of EU funds,” the central bank said in a statement.
The increase in the current and capital account surplus was mitigated by the continued deepening of the trade deficit and, to a smaller extent, higher profitability of banks and enterprises in foreign ownership, which was associated with the rapid domestic economic recovery from the pandemic crisis and the rebound of domestic demand.
The surplus in the current and capital account in the four quarters period up to the end of September 2021 totalled 6% of the gross domestic product, which was 3.9 percentage points more than in the entire 2020, the added.
Imports of goods grew faster than exports, 29.4% compared to 24.4%, in the third quarter of 2021, which, paired with a noticeably larger imports base, led to a substantial increase in the trade deficit of 800 million euro compared to the same period of 2020.
In line with the sharp increase in the current and capital account surplus, the financial account of the balance of payments showed a net capital outflow of 4.2 billion euro in the third quarter of 2021, an increase of 2.2 billion euro from the same period of last year. Broken down by individual accounts, this year’s net capital outflow was largely the outcome of the growth in gross international reserves and, to a slightly lesser extent, net outflows recorded in the other investment and portfolio investment accounts, while foreign direct investments recorded a net inflow in the same period.
Details on Croatia's balance of payment follow (in millions of euro):
|
Q3 2021 |
Q3 2020 |
CURRENT ACCOUNT BALANCE |
4,380 |
2,00 |
Goods |
-2,924
|
-2,137 |
Services |
6,890 |
3,578 |
o/w:tourism revenues: |
6,775 |
3,389 |
Primary income |
-152 |
39 |
Secondary income |
566 |
521 |
CAPITAL ACCOUNT |
325 |
236 |
CURRENT and CAPITAL ACCOUNT |
4,706 |
2,237 |
FINANCIAL ACCOUNT |
4,160 |
1,913 |
Direct investment |
-594 |
-224 |
Portfolio investment |
591 |
1,394 |
Financial derivatives |
-27 |
-188 |
Other investment |
1,411 |
-184 |
Reserve assets |
2,780 |
1,115 |
NET ERRORS & OMISSIONS |
-545 |
-324 |
-2,924
($= 0.882 euro)