Chile's current account deficit widened sharply to USD 3,634 million in the fourth quarter of 2018 from USD 1,191 million in the same period a year ago. It is the largest current account gap since the third quarter of 2013. The services gap rose to USD 1,050 million from USD 949 million in Q4 2017 and the goods surplus narrowed to USD 305 million from USD 2,597 million, with exports falling 0.1 percent and imports surging 13.6 percent. Meanwhile, the primary income deficit decreased to USD 3,209 million from USD 3,334 million and the secondary income surplus fell slightly to USD 320 million from USD 495 million in the same period of 2017. In 2018, the country's current account deficit widened significantly to USD 9,157 million from USD 5,965 million, amid a higher primary income deficit of USD 12,241 million compared to a USD 11,379 million in 2017, mainly associated with foreign direct investment in Chile. Current Account in Chile averaged -538.12 USD Million from 1996 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 3256.31 USD Million in the first quarter of 2007 and a record low of -5054.90 USD Million in the third quarter of 2012.
Current Account in Chile is expected to be -1100.00 USD Million by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Current Account in Chile to stand at -500.00 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Chile Current Account is projected to trend around -1200.00 USD Million in 2020, according to our econometric models.