5  The current account mainly consists of the difference between exports and imports of goods and services. Net capital income and various charges paid to and received from abroad are also included, but these components usually account for a much smaller part of the total than net exports. 6  For a more detailed discussion, see Lane, 2010. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  Figure 1 Current accounts, private net capital and GDP in eastern and central Europe Percentage of GDP and annual percentage change 15  15 GDP Current account Private capital  10  10  5  5  0  0  -5  -5  -10  -10 80  82  84  86  89  91  93  95  97  99  01  04  06  08  10  Note. Private capital is made up of direct private investment (net), private portfolio flows (net) and other private capital (net flows), expressed here as a share of GDP. Source: The IMF  Global imbalances have increased since the deregulation of the capital markets at the end of the 1980s. One of the reasons for this is that countries with surpluses, such as China, have grown more rapidly than other countries. The higher rate of growth means that China’s savings surplus (the difference between saving and investment) has increased as a percentage of global GDP.
What advice would you give to euro area governments on how to deal with the economic impact of this pandemic? We need to be aware that this will lead to a significant drop in business revenues and the public sector will need to fill this gap. The main factor in terms of ensuring the economy starts to recover when the health situation improves is to try to “vaccinate”, as best we can, the business ecosystem of each country. What we need to do is try to keep the business system alive, as much as possible, and to come through this period. That is what my advice would be. Keeping this ecosystem going is also important in terms of safeguarding jobs and reducing the social impact. 3/3  BIS central bankers' speeches