U.S. Q4 Current Account Deficit Rises 14.8% To $113.5 Billion

The current account deficit widened to $113.5 billion in the 2014 fourth quarter from a revised $98.9 billion in the third quarter, mainly because of a decline in net primary income from outside the U.S. The deficit rose to 2.6% as a percentage of gross domestic product, up from 2.2% in the prior quarter but well below the record of 6.3% in 2005, the Commerce Department said Thursday. For all of 2014, the current-account deficit edged up to $410.6 billion from $400.3 billion in 2013. In both years that reflected 2.4% of GDP.