Luxembourg economy records surplus of €2.6bn in first three quarters of 2017

The Luxembourg economy has shown a surplus of €2.6 billion in the first three quarters of 2017.

STATEC and the Banque centrale du Luxembourg (BCL) have reported that current accounts showed a surplus of over €2.6 billion in the first three quarters of 2017, compared to €3.2 billion for the same period in the previous year.

Meanwhile, the deficit (negative balance) of transactions in goods rose from €2.3 billion in 2016 to €2.9 billion in 2017. This change has been attributed to an increase in the value of imports of raw materials, energy products and capital goods.

Moreover, the net exports of services, both financial and non-financial, increased in 2017 and the balance of international services trade for the first 9 months of last year amounted to €17.3 billion, an increase of nearly 1.2 billion or more than 7% compared to 2016. However, this improvement did not eliminate the accentuation of the primary income deficit, which is related to employee compensation and investment income.