According to the latest available data, the EU27 external current account recorded a deficit of 4.1 billion euro in the first quarter of 2012, compared with a deficit of 31.3 bn in the first quarter of 2011.

In the first quarter of 2012, compared with the first quarter of 2011, there was a fall in the deficit of the goods account (-31.6 bn euro compared with -47.3 bn). The surplus of the services account rose (+31.1 bn compared with +20.4 bn), as did the surplus of the income account (+14.4 bn compared with +13.4 bn). The deficit of the current
transfers account remained nearly stable (-17.9 bn compared with -17.8 bn).

The surplus recorded in the services account (+31.1 bn euro) is mainly the result of surpluses in "other business services", which includes miscellaneous business, professional and technical services (+12.9 bn), financial services (+7.2 bn), computer & information services (+5.8 bn), transportation (+4.8 bn), insurance services (+2.8 bn) and
construction services (+2.4 bn), only partially offset by deficits in royalties & license fees (-1.4 bn) and travel (-0.3 bn).

In the first quarter of 2012, the EU27 external current account recorded a surplus with the USA (+20.6 bn euro), Switzerland (+17.3 bn), Brazil (+7.6 bn), Hong Kong (+6.3 bn), Canada (+4.9 bn) and India (+1.3 bn), and a deficit with China (-25.8 bn), Russia (-20.8 bn) and Japan (-5.2 bn).