In 2008, EU27 external trade in services recorded a surplus of 78.4 billion euro, compared with a surplus of 86.9 bn in 2007 and a surplus of 71.4 bn in 2006.

The decreased surplus in 2008 was mainly due to smaller surpluses in financial services (+30.7 bn euro in 2008 compared with +33.3 bn in 2007) and “other business services”, which includes miscellaneous business, professional & technical services (+33.1 bn compared with +35.6 bn), and to increased deficits in royalties & licence fees (-13.8 bn compared with -8.5 bn) and travel (-20.3 bn compared with -18.7 bn).

These deteriorations were partially compensated by increased surpluses in transportation (+24.1 bn compared with +19.9 bn), computer & information services (+17.3 bn compared with +14.8 bn) and insurance services (+7.6 bn compared with +6.8 bn). These data, issued by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, are subject to revision.

In 2008, the EU27 continued to record a surplus in trade in services with all its main trading partners. The EU27 recorded an increased surplus with EFTA5 (+26.0 bn in 2008 compared with +23.4 bn in 2007), Brazil (+3.0 bn compared with +2.0 bn) and China (+4.9 bn compared with +4.0 bn). Smaller surpluses were registered with the USA (+1.7 bn compared with +9.0 bn), India (+0.6 bn compared with +2.6 bn) and Japan (+4.7 bn compared with +5.7 bn), while those with Russia (+7.5 bn compared with +7.9 bn), Canada (+2.0 bn compared with +2.2 bn) and Hong Kong (+0.9 bn compared with +0.6 bn) remained nearly stable.