WASHINGTON, March 14 (Xinhua)-- U.S. current account deficit shrank to 110.4 billion dollars in the fourth quarter of 2012, the Commerce Department said Thursday.
The decline in the current account deficit was due to an increase in the surplus in income and services, which was partly offset by an increase in the deficit on goods, the department said in a report.
The deficit in goods and services increased to 128.4 billion dollars in the fourth quarter from 124.8 billion dollars in the third. The surplus in income rose from 46.6 billion dollars to 52.4 billion dollars in the same period.
The current account deficit rose to 475 billion dollars last year, up from 465.9 billion dollars in 2011.
Current account is the broadest measure of foreign trade because it measures not only trade in goods and services, which are tracked by the government on a monthly basis, but also investment flows between countries.
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