Euro zone’s current account deficit widens on soaring energy bill

FRANKFURT, Oct 20 (Reuters) – The euro zone’s current account deficit widened in August as soaring energy costs pushed up the bloc’s import bill, data from the European Central Bank showed on Thursday.

The currency bloc of 19 countries, which ran a current account surplus for years before Russia’s war in Ukraine, recorded an adjusted deficit of 26.32 billion euros in August after a 19.96 billion deficit a month earlier.

In the 12 months to August, the euro zone’s current account deficit equalled 0.1% of gross domestic product (GDP), down from a surplus of 2.8% in the preceding year.

(Reporting by Balazs KoranyiEditing by Gareth Jones)