EU deficit grows

The EU25 external current account recorded a deficit of €5.3 billion in the third quarter of 2004, as compared with a surplus of €6.4 billion in the third quarter of 2003 and a deficit of €3 billion in the second quarter of 2004, provisional data issued by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Communities, shows.

In the third quarter of 2004 the EU25 external balance of trade in services recorded a surplus of €10.3 billion as compared with a surplus of €8.4 billion in the third quarter of 2003 and a surplus of €14.3 billion in the second quarter of 2004.