Belgium posted a current account gap of EUR 588 million in the third quarter of 2018, compared to a EUR 1,010 million surplus in the corresponding period of 2017. The goods account recorded a EUR 508 deficit, swinging from a EUR 747 million surplus a year earlier; the services shortfall widened to EUR 1,517 million from EUR 335 million and the secondary income gap rose to EUR 1,521 million from EUR 1,457 million. On the other hand, the primary income surplus advanced to EUR 2,959 million from EUR 2,054 million in the third quarter of 2017. Current Account in Belgium averaged 1239.84 EUR Million from 1995 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 7732 EUR Million in the second quarter of 2010 and a record low of -6687 EUR Million in the third quarter of 2008.
Current Account in Belgium is expected to be -380.00 EUR Million by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Current Account in Belgium to stand at -298.14 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Belgium Current Account is projected to trend around -280.00 EUR Million in 2020, according to our econometric models.