Banks, Estonia, Financial Services, Foreign trade

The deficit was mainly a result of the deficit of the goods account being bigger than in February 2015.

Whereas Estonia exported about 2.5% more goods than in February 2015, the import of goods expanded by 5.6%.

The small increase in the surplus of the services account was not enough to offset the deficit of the goods account. Total spending by Estonian residents abroad in February was bigger than spending by non-residents visiting Estonia, meaning that the balance of the travel services account was negative.

Flows of transport services contracted further, whereas exports of all other services moved up and imports declined. The positive balance of the capital account meant that the total of the current and capital accounts was positive, which was not the case in January. 

The Bank of Estonia publishes a flash estimate of the balance of payments monthly for the last month but one. The central bank will publish the balance of payments for 2016 on June 9, 2016.

In 2015, Estonia had a current account surplus of 394 million euros, double the size of the surplus of 2014 and the biggest surplus in the country's history.