The flash estimate¹ put the Estonian current account at 49 million euros in surplus in July 2017. The surplus on the goods and services account was 87 million euros, which was 17 million euros less than a year earlier. Volumes of both goods and services increased. Goods exports were up by 8% over the year and imports by 11%, and so the deficit on the goods account increased by 34 million euros over the year to 131 million euros. The surplus on the services account was large in the summer months and stood at 218 million euros, up 17 million euros over the year. Services exports grew by 8% and imports by 7%. The net outflow of investment income and current transfers, or the primary and secondary income accounts, increased by 8 million euros to 38 million euros.

The current and capital accounts were in surplus by a total of 112 million euros, meaning that the Estonian economy was a net lender to the rest of the world, so the country as a whole invested more financial assets abroad than it received from there.

¹ The quarterly balance of payments is compiled from a combined system of representative primary data sources, including surveys of companies, while the monthly balance of payments draws from a considerably smaller database. Although the monthly report uses as much of the data available for the month reported as possible, including administrative data sources and reports on international payments, it is subjective to a certain degree, which is why it is called an estimate. Once the quarterly balance of payments is released, the monthly balances of payments are adjusted accordingly. For more on the principles used in compiling the flash estimate, see http://statistika.eestipank.ee/failid/mbo/kiir_mb_eng.html.

Eesti Pank publishes the flash estimate of the balance of payments monthly for the last month but one. Eesti Pank will publish the balance of payments for the third quarter of 2017 on 7 December 2017.

Statistical releases are published by Eesti Pank together with statistical data. The release is independent of economic policy releases and is presented separately from them.

Additional information:
Sünne Korasteljov
Eesti Pank Statistics Department
Telephone: 668 0906
Email: [email protected]