Greece’s current account deficit narrows sharply in October thanks to tourism

(Reuters) – Greece’s current account deficit narrowed sharply in October from a year earlier to 383 million euros ($397.59 million), helped by robust tourism revenue and a further inflow of EU funds, data from the Bank of Greece showed on Friday.

The current account shortfall eased from a deficit of 1.21 billion euros in the same month a year ago.

Tourism revenue rose by nearly 20% year-on-year to 2.17 billion euros with foreign arrivals up by 8.6%. This largely offset the impact of imports of goods outpacing exports.

However, in the 10 months to October, Greece recorded a current account deficit of 8 billion euros, up from a deficit of 7.8 billion euros in the same period last year.

($1 = 0.9633 euros)

(Reporting by Athina Karolidou in Gdansk and Angeliki Koutantou in Athens; Editing by Susan Fenton)