Economic Indicator Briefing - Venezuela - Current Account

In the third quarter, the current account incurred a surplus of US$ 18.0 billion. The figure was up from both the US$ 16.6 billion surplus recorded in the previous quarter (previously reported: US$ 16.8 billion surplus) and tripled the US$ 5.9 billion surplus registered in the same quarter last year. Moreover, the result constituted the largest quarterly current account surplus observed in more than ten years.
The improvement over the previous quarter was broad-based, as three of the four elements of the current account registered bigger surpluses or smaller deficits. However, the larger current account surplus was primarily due to an improvement of the income balance, which reverted from a US$ 444 million deficit in the second quarter to a US$ 567 million surplus.

The trade surplus also widened, from US$ 18.7 billion to US$ 19.2 billion. Exports slowed somewhat but continued to expand at a vigorous pace (Q2: +76.9% year-on-year, Q3: +66.7% yoy), while imports turned from a 10.8% expansion in the second quarter into a 3.0% contraction in the third.

The deceleration in exports was due to faster growth in non-oil exports, while oil exports slowed compared to the previous quarter. Nonetheless, oil exports continued to expand at a resilient 71.1% pace, as oil prices remained above the level observed in the same period a year before.

As a result of the quarterly reading, the annual current account surplus surged from US$ 37.2 billion in the previous quarter to US$ 49.4 billion, which also constitutes the largest surplus observed in more than a decade.

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