The US current account deficit widened to USD 124.8 billion, or 2.4 percent of GDP, in the third quarter of 2018 from a downwardly revised USD 101.2 billion, or 2 percent of GDP, in the previous three-month period and above market expectations of USD 124.3 billion. This was the largest current account deficit since the fourth quarter of 2008 mainly due to an increase in the deficit on goods (USD 227.0 billion vs USD 203.1 billion in Q2) as imports rose and exports fell. In addition, the secondary income gap declined to USD 25.6 billion from USD 29.0 billion in the previous period, while the primary income surplus shrank to USD 59.4 billion from USD 62.3 billion and the services surplus was virtually unchanged at USD 68.4 billion. Current Account in the United States averaged -48212.90 USD Million from 1960 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 9957 USD Million in the first quarter of 1991 and a record low of -215769 USD Million in the third quarter of 2006.
Current Account in the United States is expected to be -102000.00 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 the United States to stand at -101000.00 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the United States Current Account is projected to trend around -125000.00 USD Million in 2020, according to our econometric models.