OREANDA-NEWS. The flash estimate1 put the Estonian current account at 6 million euros in surplus in July 2015. Exports and imports of goods, services and investment income were all down in August. Exports and imports of other income were boosted by the active use of subsidies from the European Union Structural Funds and by transfers to the European Union budget. The total volume of credit and debit on the current account has been smaller than a year previously for five consecutive months, which indicates that activity has declined recently in the Estonian external economy.

Eesti Pank is publishing the flash estimate of the balance of payments monthly for the last month but one. The statistics on the third quarter of 2015 will be published with a comment on 9 December.

1 The quarterly balance of payments is compiled from a combined system of representative primary data sources, including surveys of companies, while the monthly balance of payments draws from a considerably smaller database. Although the monthly report uses as much data available for the month reported as possible, including administrative data sources and reports on international payments, it is subjective to a certain degree, which is why it is called an estimate. Once the quarterly balance of payments is released, the monthly balances of payments are adjusted accordingly.