According to preliminary figures released by the Croatian National Bank on Thursday, the deficit was EUR 2.038 billion, up 4.7 per cent from the same period last year.
The state of the current account was mainly due to trends in foreign trade, considering seasonal influences on the service sector, primarily tourism.
As a result of greater growth of imports than of exports, the goods account deficit was EUR 2.16 billion, or 16 per cent higher than in the first quarter of 2006.
At the same time, the services account registered a surplus of EUR 92.8. By comparison, the first quarter of last year saw a services account deficit of EUR 43.2 million.
The revenue account deficit was EUR 215 million compared to EUR 334 million last year, while the current transfers account registered a surplus of EUR 241 million, which was EUR 49 million less than in the first quarter of 2006.