WASHINGTON – The U.S. current account deficit narrowed for the third straight quarter to $112.4 billion in the fourth quarter from a revised $116.0 billion gap in the previous quarter, data released Tuesday by the Commerce Department showed.
The primary income surplus widened to $61.5 billion in the fourth quarter from $41.6 billion in the previous quarter, while the secondary income deficit widened only slightly to $41.5 billion from $41.1 billion in the third quarter.
Offsetting the improvement in the primary income surplus was the goods and services gap, which widened to $132.3 billion from $116.2 billion in the previous quarter.
The current account slipped to 2.4% of GDP in the fourth quarter from 2.5% in the previous quarter, now standing at its lowest point since 2.2% in the third quarter of 2014.
For 2016 as a whole, the current account gap widened to $481.2 billion from $463.0 billion in 2015, but remained at 2.6% of GDP.
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