The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Frankfurt

The eurozone current account showed a deficit of 1.4 billion euros (2.0 billion dollars) in the second quarter, as trade with countries like China and Japan outweighed surpluses with Britain and other EU members, the European Central Bank (ECB) said on Thursday.

The current account is the broadest measure of trade in goods and services and also includes certain financial transfers.

The ECB said the 13-nation eurozone showed a deficit of 26.5 billion euros with "other countries," a category which includes nations that are not in the European Union or the G-10, a group that in fact comprises 11 industrialised countries.

China and most oil-rich states are listed in the "other countries" category.

Trade with Japan, meanwhile, resulted in a 10-billion-euro deficit for the eurozone.

Those and other deficits were only partly offset by trade surpluses with the United Kingdom and new EU member states.

The current account position with the United States was close to balance, with the eurozone posting a surplus of 300 million euros in the second quarter to June.