The surplus recorded in the services account (+29.8 bn euro) is mainly the result of surpluses in "other business services", which includes miscellaneous business, professional and technical services (+11.5 bn), financial services (+7.6 bn), computer & information services (+6.5 bn), transportation (+6.4 bn) and construction services (+2.2 bn), only partially offset by a deficit in royalties & license fees (-2.5 bn).
In the third quarter of 2011, the EU27 external current account recorded a surplus with Switzerland (+15.8 bn euro), the USA (+13.9 bn), Hong Kong (+5.9 bn), Brazil (+4.1 bn), Canada (+2.8 bn) and India (+1.0 bn), and a deficit with China (-35.7 bn), Russia (-9.9 bn) and Japan (-5.4 bn).
Financial Account
In the third quarter of 2011, the EU27 made direct investments abroad of 15.3 bn euro, compared with 31.6 bn in the same quarter of 2010, while foreign direct investors made investments in the EU27 of 6.8 bn, compared with disinvestment of 2.3 bn in the same quarter of 2010. Portfolio investments recorded a net inflow of 142.5 bn, compared with a net outflow of 15.9 bn in the third quarter of 2010.
Current account of Member States (including intra-EU flows)
As concerns the total (intra-EU plus extra-EU) current account balances of the EU27 Member States5, fourteen recorded surpluses and thirteen deficits in the third quarter of 2011. The highest surpluses were observed in Germany (+30.3 bn euro), the Netherlands (+10.4 bn), Sweden (+8.3 bn) and Denmark (+4.7 bn), and the largest deficits in the United Kingdom (-20.1 bn), France (-8.7 bn), Italy (-8.2 bn) and Spain (-6.4 bn).
