But austerity in Europe has had a profound impact on the eurozone’s current account, which has swung from a deficit of almost $100 billion in 2008 to a surplus of almost $300 billion this year. This was a consequence of the sudden stop of capital flows to the eurozone’s southern members, which forced these countries to turn their current accounts from a combined deficit of $300 billion five years ago to a small surplus today.
但欧洲的紧缩对欧元区经常项目造成了深远影响，从2008年的近1000亿美元赤字变为今年的近3000亿美元盈余。这导致了流向欧元区南部成员国的资本流突然断流，迫使这些国家的经常项目从五年前的3000亿美元赤字（总和）转变为如今的略有盈余。由于欧元区北部的外部盈余国（德国和荷兰）的需求并未扩张，因此目前欧元区总体呈现出世界最大规模的经常项目盈余，甚至比中国还要大，而这长期以来被指责是通过参与竞争性货币操纵获得的。