EU services trade surplus decreases in 2014: Eurostat

The European Union (EU) surplus in trade in services decreased in 2014 for the first time over the last five years, Eurostat, the EU statistical office said on Tuesday.

The surplus stood at 162.9 billion euros (about 177 billion U.S. dollars) in 2014, compared with 175.6 billion euros in 2013. Eurostat said the decrease is due to a rise of EU imports of services from the rest of the world.

Compared with 2013, the EU imports of services grew from 544.1 billion euros to 602.0 billion euros in 2014, while the exports increased less from 719.6 billion euros to 764.9 billion euros.

In 2014, the services that contributed the most to the EU surplus were financial services, with 40.1 billion euros, ICT services, with 38.8 billion euros and other business services. In contrast, the only significant deficit was recorded for charges for the use of intellectual property.

In 2014, the United States and the four European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries continued to be the two main partners of the EU in international trade in services.

In the 28-member EU, the largest surplus was observed in trade with the EFTA countries, at 58.6 billion euros, ahead of Russia, Japan and Brazil.

However, compared with 2013, EU surplus with the United States saw a significant drop, from 17.1 billion euros in 2013 to 6.6 billion euros in 2014. (1 euro = 1.09 U.S. dollars) Endit