PRAGUE, April 13 (Reuters) - The Czech current account
posted an expected surplus of 4.0 billion crowns ($192.6
million) in February, from a 5...
...49 billion crown surplus a month
earlier, data showed on Friday.
The 12-month rolling deficit narrowed marginally to 128
billion crowns, or 4.1 percent of last year's gross domestic
product (GDP) according to Reuters' calculations, from 133
billion crowns a month earlier.
KEY POINTS:
(CZK billions) Feb Jan Feb forecast
Current Account 4.00 5.49 7.00
Financial Account 5.15 -15.21 n/a
Net Direct Investment 13.38 -12.82 n/a
(For full table, double click on..................[nPRA001248])
- The monthly surplus is mainly due to a 13.61 billion crown
surplus in the balance of foreign trade balance following a 11.6
billion crown surplus in January. The balance of services
surplus doubles to 1.24 billion crowns from 0.64 billion.
- Net foreign direct investment inflows total 13.4 billion
crowns, which includes 6.2 bilion crowns in reinvested profits.
- Portfolio investments show a net 1.5 billion crown inflow,
mainly due to sales of local currency government bonds and
equities by foreign investors.
COMMENTARY:
JAN VEJMELEK, HEAD OF ECONOMICS AND STRATEGY RESEARCH,
KOMERCNI BANKA, PRAGUE
"The result is below the adjusted average market expectation
but it cannot be seen as a dissapointment. A second (consecutive
monthly) surplus is a positive, and the annual cummulative
number has also stabilised one quarter earlier than we had
thought."
PETR DUFEK, ANALYST, CSOB BANK, PRAGUE
"The outcome is worse than we had expected because of a
further drop in transfers. It looks like the Czech Republic
still has large reserves in drawing on funds from the EU.
"Otherwise, the structure brought no surprises. The result
will neither enchant nor undermine the crown, so the market will
soon sweep it from its mind."
MARKET REACTION:
- Crown largely flat on the day at 27.930 per euro .
BACKGROUND:
- Analyst expectations before data release [ID:nL2940601]
- Czech Feb foreign trade figures [ID:nL0424065]
- Polish Jan C/A [ID:nWAR005477]
- Slovak Jan C/A gap [ID:nLPRG000284
- Hungary's Q4 C/A gap [ID:nL30184266]
- Report on last Czech c.bank rate decision [ID:nPRA001221]
[ID:nL06735130] [ID:nPRA001222] [ID:nL29598110]
LINKS:
- For further details on February of payments numbers and past
data, Reuters 3000 Xtra users can click on the Czech National
Bank's website:
http://www.cnb.cz/en/statistics/bop_stat/
- For LIVE Czech economic data releases, click on
- Instant Views on other Czech data [CZ/INSTANT]
- Overview of Czech macroeconomic indicators [CZ/ECI]
- Key data releases in central Europe [CEE-CONVERGENCE-WATCH]
- For Czech money markets data click on
- Czech money guide
- Czech benchmark state bond prices
- Czech forward money market rates
($1=20.77 Czech Crown)
Keywords: CZECH ECONOMY/BALANCE