US DATA: 4Q current acct gap $115.6b vs $102.3b in 3Q. The wider goods
and services gap and a smaller income surplus were offset by a narrower
unilateral transfers gap. For 2009 as a whole, the current acct gap was
$419.9b, down sharply from $706.1b in 2008 and the smallest since 2001.
The sharp narrowing of the 2009 trade gap more than accounted for the
improvement. The 4Q current acct gap was 3.2% of GDP, up from 2.9% in 3Q
and the largest since 4Q08. For 2009, the curr acct gap was only 2.9% of
GDP, down from 4.9% in 3Q and the lowest since 2.4% in 1998.