FRANKFURT
The current account surplus of Eurozone grew at the start of the year, the European Central Bank said in a statement on Friday.
The Eurozone ran a €29.4 billion ($31.4 billion) current account surplus in January, up from €17.8 billion ($19.1 billion) in December 2014, the statement said.
Improving exports, and the low price of oil both were both factors in the substantial increase, as was the decline in imports of 5.7 percent from the same period last year.
These factors led to the second-highest current account surplus on record.
The current account surplus was also 18 percent higher in January from the previous year, up to €247.2 billion ($264.4 billion) from €200.7 billion ($264 billion) a year earlier.
The bank attributed the strong improvement to the increases in the surpluses for goods, services, and primary income.
However, the effects of the European Central Bank’s stimulus program were not yet notable at the time of this release, since the data show the January flows.
