UPDATE 1-Greek August trade surplus inches up on strong tourism

(Adds August tourist, Jan-Aug trade data)

ATHENS, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Greece's current account surplus slightly widened in August compared with the same month last year on the back of rising tourist revenues, the Bank of Greece said on Friday.

Central bank data showed the current account surplus was 498 million euros ($526.39 million) in August, up from a surplus of 478 million euros in the same month of 2022.

Tourism receipts in August, the peak of Greece's summer tourist season, rose by 5% to 4.36 billion euros, as foreign arrivals increased by an annual 10%, Bank of Greece data showed.

Greece, which heavily relies on tourism, saw its trade deficit widening by 63% year-on-year in 2022, to 20 billion euros or 9.7% of its economic output, on the back of much costlier energy imports.

Higher tourism revenues and lower imports helped shrink the trade deficit in the January-August period to 6.85 billion euros from a deficit of 11 billion in the same period last year, according to central bank's data.

($1 = 0.9461 euros) (Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; editing by Jason Neely and Angus MacSwan)