Macedonia's current account deficit narrowed by 46% y/y to €121mn in January-June, preliminary central bank data showed. The H1 deficit is equal to 1.3% of the projected 2015 GDP. For the 12 months to end-June, the current account balance is a small deficit of €10.8mn, or 0.1% of GDP.
The improvement in the H1 current account balance was driven by a robust growth in exports of goods and services coupled with soft imports. The merchandise trade deficit declined 5.9% y/y to €864.4mn, as exports rose 12.6% y/y to €1.45bn and imports went up 4.9% y/y to €2.31bn. The services surplus soared 58.6% y/y to €176.9mn.
On the other hand, the primary income deficit widened by 11.8% y/y to €123.2mn in H1. In addition, the secondary income surplus edged down 0.6% y/y to €689.7mn.
In June alone, the current account balance was a deficit of €4.2mn, reversing a surplus of €30.8mn in June 2014.
| Current Account, €mn | ||||
| 2014 | 2015 | |||
| June | H1 | June | H1 | |
| CURRENT ACCOUNT | 31 | -224 | -4 | -121 |
| - Credit | 498 | 2,667 | 541 | 2,900 |
| - Debit | 467 | 2,891 | 546 | 3,021 |
| Goods and services | -77 | -808 | -116 | -688 |
| - Credit | 354 | 1,870 | 392 | 2,104 |
| - Debit | 431 | 2,678 | 507 | 2,792 |
| Goods | -117 | -919 | -143 | -864 |
| - Credit | 243 | 1,288 | 278 | 1,450 |
| - Debit | 360 | 2,207 | 421 | 2,314 |
| Services | 40 | 112 | 27 | 177 |
| - Credit | 110 | 582 | 113 | 654 |
| - Debit | 71 | 470 | 86 | 478 |
| Primary Income | -20 | -110 | -21 | -123 |
| Secondary Income | 128 | 694 | 132 | 690 |
| Source: Central bank |
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