The European Union (EU) external current account recorded a bigger-than-expected deficit of 58.2 billion euros (82.8 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter, the EU's statistics bureau Eurostat said on July 23.
Eurostat had predicted a deficit of 50.8 billion euros (72.3 billion dollars) in the current account for the 27-nation bloc.
The figure was higher than a deficit of 46.2 billion euros (65.7 billion dollars) in the first quarter of 2008, but lower than the 68.3 billion euros (97.2 billion dollars) in the fourth quarter of 2008.
In the first quarter of 2009, the EU external balance of trade in services recorded a surplus of 12 billion euros (17.07 billion dollars), falling from 18.5 billion euros (26.3 billion dollars) in the first quarter of 2008 and 17.1 billion euros (24.3 billion dollars) in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Against the backdrop of the worst world recession since the Second World War, global trade was expected to shrink and the EU is suffering from dwindling demand from the outside.
Among its main trading partners, the EU external current account in the first quarter recorded the largest surplus with Switzerland and the biggest deficit with China, according to Eurostat.
