BUDAPEST: The current account surplus came to €493 million in April, halving from the previous month’s €955 million, with external financing capacity – the combined balance of the current and capital accounts – coming to a surplus of €750 million, €638 million down from March, preliminary figures from the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) published today reveal.
The April trade surplus in the current account fell by €292 million from a month earlier to €803 million, MNB said, adding that the trade balance of goods was less than half of its March level, falling €380 million to €346 million, while surplus from service trade rose €88 million to €456 million, including a net tourism surplus of €277 million, up €92 million from March.
Data from the central bank suggest that income outflow due to foreign investors was €495 million in April, some €26 million more than in the preceding month, including €331 million profit repatriation on FDI, up by €45 million.
Considering capital account, net inflow of direct investments worth €630 million in March turned to €325 million outflow in April, MNB’s data reveal. The central bank suggests this to be the result of net equity investments inflow of €132 million, and net outflow of debt instruments in the amount of €458 million as opposed to inflow of €1.077 billion in March. Capital inflow in EU transfers in April was less than two-thirds of the previous monthʼs, at €258 million as compared to €434 million in March, preliminary MNB figures show.
