The Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden have had persistent current account surpluses in recent decades. While oil production set Norway apart, the emergence of the surpluses in Finland and Sweden coincided with a financial crisis in both countries and can be traced to a rise in national saving. These surpluses have persisted in the decades since the crisis. The same pattern can be seen in Iceland after its financial crisis in 2008-2009 when national saving increased, generating persistent current account surpluses for the first time in the history of that country. Other crisis countries in 2008 shared Iceland’s current account deficits in the years before the crises and surpluses in the years afterwards. This applies to the Baltic countries of Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Greece, Spain and Portugal. A similar development occurred in the Southeast Asian countries that had a financial crisis in the late 1990s. The causes of the rise in saving following financial crisis are not clear but could include more cautious bankers or increased risk aversion by households. Policy makers are also likely to avoid running deficits to reduce the risk of future crises.

近几十年来，丹麦、芬兰、挪威和瑞典等北欧国家一直保持经常账户盈余。虽然石油生产使挪威与众不同，但芬兰和瑞典的盈余出现恰逢两国发生金融危机，这可以追溯到国民储蓄的增加。自危机以来的几十年里，这些盈余一直持续存在。冰岛在 2008-2009 年金融危机后也出现了同样的模式，当时国民储蓄增加，在该国历史上首次产生持续的经常账户盈余。2008 年，其他危机国家在危机之前的几年里分享了冰岛的经常账户赤字，在之后的几年里都出现了盈余。这适用于拉脱维亚、爱沙尼亚、立陶宛、希腊、西班牙和葡萄牙等波罗的海国家。类似的发展发生在 1990 年代后期发生金融危机的东南亚国家。金融危机后储蓄增加的原因尚不清楚，但可能包括银行家更加谨慎或家庭避险情绪增加。政策制定者也可能避免出现赤字，以降低未来危机的风险。