Europe's trade balance dives deeper into deficit
10 September 2010, 11:21 CET
(BRUSSELS) - Europe's trade balance with the rest of the world dived deeper into deficit in the second quarter of 2010, official figures showed on Friday.
The external current account for the 27 European Union nations recorded a deficit of 50.8 billion euros (65 billion dollars) -- up from 34.8 billion euros in the first quarter and more than the equivalent period last year, at 44.7 billion euros.
Figures from the Eurostat data office showed that the services trade balance rose from 10.8 billion euros to 18.6 billion euros quarter-on-quarter, an improvement from last year's 16.4 billion euros. It traditionally posts a surplus.