2021-12-21
Today, the Bank of Lithuania released the balance of payments data for Q3 2021, which shows that:
The current account balance (CAB), which is in deficit, declined 7.9 times and amounted to €18.9 million or 0.1% of the gross domestic product (GDP). This was determined by a contraction in foreign trade and primary income balance deficits, which were not offset by surplus balances of services and secondary income. Due to a faster growth of the exports of goods (9.3%), compared to that of their imports (7.1%), the foreign trade balance deficit decreased and stood at €793.3 million. The primary income balance deficit contracted due to a decline in the direct investment income balance. A year earlier, the CAB was in surplus, at €957.7 million, equating to 7.2% of GDP (see Chart 1);
The capital account surplus contracted 6.3%, compared to the previous quarter, and amounted to €166.1 million. This was a result of lower transfers received from the European Union structural support funds dedicated to financing investment projects;
The positive net flow of financial account investment increased 2.4 times over the reporting period and totalled €708.1 million or 4.7% of GDP (see Chart 2). This was determined by the positive net flow of other investment and an increase in official reserve assets, which were not offset by the negative net flows of portfolio investment and direct investment;
The negative net international investment position amounted to €5.2 billion or 9.7% of GDP at the end of Q3;
Lithuania's gross external debt stood at €38.6 billion or 72.2% of GDP at the end of Q3, while net external debt was negative and amounted to €2.2 billion or 4.2% of GDP.
Chart 1. CAB and its composite flows as a percentage of GDP
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Chart 2. Net financial account investment flows as a percentage of GDP
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Detailed data on the balance of payments, international investment position, and foreign debt is available on the Bank of Lithuania website (under External Statistics).
You can use the tool My Data Sets, which allows creating data sets that will be saved in your account, and the data will be updated immediately after publication.
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