ATHENS: Greece’s current account balance showed a 404-million-euro deficit in March, up 316 million compared to the same month last year, the Bank of Greece said on Friday. In a monthly report, the central bank attributed this development to a decline in the surplus of the services balance and to deterioration in the primary and secondary income accounts.
The above developments were offset to some extent by an improvement in the balance of goods. The balance of goods deficit decreased by 281 million euros year-on-year, mainly on account of the lower net oil import bill, which reflects the fall in oil prices.
At the end of March 2015, Greek reserve assets stood at 6.05 billion euros, compared to 5.5 billion a year earlier, the central bank said. Last year, Greece posted a current account surplus of 1.66 billion euros, up from 1.09 billion euros in 2013, helped by higher tourism revenues, its biggest foreign currency earner.
