The current account surplus in the Euro Area narrowed to EUR 33.0 billion in December 2018 from EUR 46.1 billion in the same month of the previous year. The goods surplus declined sharply to EUR 18.2 billion from EUR 32.4 billion a year ago and the services surplus fell to EUR 10.0 billion from EUR 11.3 billion, while the secondary deficit widened to EUR 12.8 billion from EUR 9.7 billion. On the other hand, the primary income surplus rose to EUR 17.6 billion from EUR 12.1 billion a year earlier. Considering 2018 full year, the current account surplus narrowed to EUR 341.6 billion, or 3 percent of GDP, from the previous year's EUR 363.7 billion, or 3.2 percent of GDP. Current Account in the Euro Area averaged 7.56 EUR Billion from 1999 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 55.21 EUR Billion in December of 2015 and a record low of -28.62 EUR Billion in January of 2008.
Current Account in Euro Area is expected to be 32.20 EUR Billion by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Current Account in Euro Area to stand at 29.50 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Euro Area Current Account is projected to trend around 28.90 EUR Billion in 2020, according to our econometric models.