The flash estimate¹ put the Estonian current account at 49 million euros in surplus in February 2017. Unlike in January, there were no one-off factors affecting the current account in February, and so it returned to its usual level of recent times. The surplus on the goods and services account more than doubled over the year to 91 million euros. Goods exports increased by 4% while imports were at the same level as a year earlier and so the deficit on the goods account halved to 30 million euros. The surplus on the services account was 121 million euros, which was 19 million euros more than at the same time a year earlier. Exports of services increased by 13% and imports by 10%. The net outflow on the primary and secondary income accounts totalled 40 million euros.

The current and capital accounts were in surplus by a total of 67 million euros in February, meaning Estonia was again a net lender to the rest of the world.

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 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 first quarter of 2017 on 8 June 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]