US current account deficit hits record high in first quarter of 2022

America's current account deficit reached a fresh record high equivalent to 4.8% of the country's gross domestic product over the first three months of 2022.

According to the Department of Commerce, in seasonally adjusted terms, the US current account deficit yawned wider in the first quarter to reach -$291.4bn, against -$224.8bn during the previous three-month stretch.

Economists had penciled-in a deficit of -$284.8bn.

The current account encompasses a country's foreign trade position, net current transfers, and earnings on cross-border investments or current income.

In the last quarter of 2021, the current account deficit stood at 3.7% of GDP.

Mahir Rasheed and Kathy Bostjancic at Oxford Economics said the current account deficit was set to remain "historically elevated" over the course of 2022 due to a combination of sharp downward revisions to global growth and relatively healthier US domestic balance sheets, which would foster imbalanced growth in imports and exports.

Their forecast called for a deficit worth 4.6% of GDP across 2022, the largest since 2008, narrowing to 4.3% of national output in 2023.