Czech Republic: C/A posts high surplus thanks to foreign trade

Actual (Feb): CZK 18.3bn
Consensus: CZK 11.0bn
Previous (Jan): CZK 14.2bn

The February surplus of the current account is the highest since February 2011 and the second highest in the time series. The number is above the consensus. However, it is not a big surprise because much of the difference is thanks to the better-than-expected trade balance (CZK 20.7bn), released a week ago. We can also see a high surplus on the balance of current transfers (CZK 8.2bn), while other C/A components did not diverge from their normal levels. The balance of services posted a CZK 4.1bn surplus, the income balance gap widened to CZK 14.7bn. This figure includes a CZK 10.3bn dividend outflow.

On the financial account, the net FDIs were positive (CZK 16.3bn) thanks to an increase in foreign investments in the Czech economy. There was a heavy inflow of money from the portfolio investments (CZK 43.5bn) thanks to the EUR 2bn issue of government bonds abroad.