Table 1: Current account of the euro area

(EUR billions, unless otherwise indicated; transactions during the period; non-working day and non-seasonally adjusted)

	Cumulated figures for the four-quarter period ending in						Q4 2016			Q4 2017
	Q4 2016			Q4 2017
	Net	Credit	Debit	Net	Credit	Debit	Net	Credit	Debit	Net	Credit	Debit
Current account	388.0	3,656.9	3,268.8	387.6	3,903.9	3,516.4	121.5	970.3	848.9	133.2	1,024.4	891.2
Percentage of GDP1	3.6	33.9	30.3	3.5	35.0	31.5	-	-	-	-	-	-
Goods	375.3	2,130.1	1,754.8	345.3	2,283.1	1,937.8	96.0	555.7	459.7	99.2	594.5	495.3
of which: General merchandise	344.6	2,059.8	1,715.2	328.7	2,221.6	1,892.9	89.0	538.0	448.9	96.3	580.4	484.1
Services	39.5	784.7	745.2	94.7	847.8	753.1	3.8	205.0	201.3	27.2	223.2	196.0
Transport	6.7	126.6	119.9	11.8	137.4	125.7	1.0	32.0	31.1	2.6	34.5	31.9
Travel	24.5	126.2	101.7	38.8	144.1	105.3	2.5	26.5	24.0	6.1	31.0	24.9
Insurance, pension and financial services	19.0	88.1	69.0	21.0	93.3	72.3	4.8	22.9	18.1	5.1	23.5	18.4
Telecommunication, computer and information services	64.9	114.7	49.8	74.2	126.1	51.9	18.7	32.6	14.0	21.4	35.8	14.4
Other business services	-42.3	206.8	249.1	-22.4	215.2	237.6	-16.3	57.3	73.6	-2.5	61.1	63.6
Other	-33.4	122.4	155.8	-28.8	131.7	160.5	-6.9	33.6	40.4	-5.5	37.3	42.8
Primary income	112.1	637.1	524.9	91.7	664.8	573.1	56.7	182.1	125.4	39.1	177.6	138.5
Compensation of employees	20.1	37.9	17.8	19.3	37.8	18.5	5.1	10.0	4.9	4.8	9.6	4.8
Investment income	78.0	560.6	482.6	61.9	591.7	529.7	34.3	149.2	114.8	24.1	152.7	128.6
Direct investment	151.1	338.1	187.0	124.8	351.2	226.4	43.2	94.4	51.2	31.5	95.3	63.9
of which: Reinvested earnings	16.5	31.4	14.9	-42.4	46.6	89.0	0.5	-1.7	-2.2	-27.2	-4.6	22.6
Portfolio investment	-76.9	175.4	252.3	-68.7	186.4	255.2	-11.1	41.2	52.2	-9.4	43.0	52.4
Dividends	-8.6	58.2	66.8	-9.9	62.5	72.4	2.1	11.3	9.2	0.8	11.4	10.7
Income on investment fund shares	-72.8	5.1	77.8	-79.7	5.7	85.4	-14.8	1.2	16.0	-16.7	1.6	18.3
Interest	4.5	112.2	107.7	20.9	118.3	97.4	1.7	28.7	27.0	6.6	30.0	23.4
Other investment	0.6	43.9	43.4	2.1	50.2	48.1	1.1	12.5	11.4	1.1	13.3	12.3
of which: interest	1.5	39.7	38.1	2.6	45.3	42.7	1.1	11.2	10.0	1.0	11.9	10.9
Reserve assets		3.2			3.8			1.1			1.0
Other primary income	14.0	38.6	24.5	10.5	35.4	24.9	17.3	23.0	5.7	10.2	15.3	5.1
Secondary income	-138.9	105.0	244.0	-144.2	108.2	252.4	-35.0	27.4	62.5	-32.4	29.0	61.4
1)Four-quarter cumulated sums of non-working day and non-seasonally adjusted GDP.
Source: ECB.