The current account surplus shrank by more than expected in the last three months of 1998, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office.

The surplus of £254 million (#322.5 million) was down from £623 million for the same quarter in 1997 and lower than the revised surplus of £757 million for the previous quarter.

The surplus over the whole of 1998 was £1.05 billion compared to £1.36 billion in 1997.