18 October 2024
- Current account recorded €31 billion surplus in August 2024, down from €41 billion in previous month
- Current account surplus amounted to €408 billion (2.8% of euro area GDP) in the 12 months to August 2024, up from €138 billion (1.0%) one year earlier
- In financial account, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €510 billion and non-residents’ net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €718 billion in the 12 months to August 2024
Chart 1
Euro area current account balance
(EUR billions unless otherwise indicated; working day and seasonally adjusted data)
Source: ECB.
The current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €31 billion in August 2024, a decrease of €10 billion from the previous month (Chart 1 and Table 1). Surpluses were recorded for goods (€32 billion) and services (€19 billion). Deficits were recorded for secondary income (€15 billion) and primary income (€ 4 billion).
Table 1
Current account of the euro area
(EUR billions unless otherwise indicated; transactions; working day and seasonally adjusted data)
Source: ECB. Note: Discrepancies between totals and their components may be due to rounding.
Data for the current account of the euro area
In the 12 months to August 2024, the current account surplus widened to €408 billion (2.8% of euro area GDP), up from €138 billion (1.0% of euro area GDP) one year earlier. This increase was mainly driven by a larger surplus for goods (up from €147 billion to €379 billion), and, to a lesser extent, by larger surpluses for services (up from €129 billion to €162 billion) and primary income (up from €29 billion to €33 billion). The secondary income deficit remained broadly stable (slightly down from €166 billion to €165 billion).
Chart 2
Selected items of the euro area financial account
(EUR billions; 12-month cumulated data)
Source: ECB. Notes: For assets, a positive (negative) number indicates net purchases (sales) of non-euro area instruments by euro area investors. For liabilities, a positive (negative) number indicates net sales (purchases) of euro area instruments by non-euro area investors.
In direct investment, euro area residents made net disinvestments of €196 billion in non-euro area assets in the 12 months to August 2024, declining from net disinvestments of €324 billion one year earlier (Chart 2 and Table 2). Non-residents disinvested €358 billion in net terms from euro area assets in the 12 months to August 2024, decreasing from net disinvestments of €471 billion one year earlier.
In portfolio investment, euro area residents’ net purchases of non-euro area equity increased to €105 billion in the 12 months to August 2024, up from €56 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, net purchases of non-euro area debt securities by euro-area residents rose to €406 billion, up from €361 billion one year earlier. Non-residents’ net purchases of euro area equity increased to €324 billion in the 12 months to August 2024, up from €208 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, non-residents’ net purchases of euro area debt securities widened to €395 billion, up from €370 billion one year earlier.
Table 2
Financial account of the euro area
(EUR billions unless otherwise indicated; transactions; non-working day and non-seasonally adjusted data)
Source: ECB. Notes: Decreases in assets and liabilities are shown with a minus sign. Net financial derivatives are reported under assets. “MFIs” stands for monetary financial institutions. Discrepancies between totals and their components may be due to rounding.
Data for the financial account of the euro area
In other investment, euro area residents recorded net acquisitions of non-euro area assets amounting to €204 billion in the 12 months to August 2024 (following net disposals of €73 billion one year earlier), while they recorded net disposals of liabilities of €248 billion (down from €280 billion one year earlier).
Chart 3
Monetary presentation of the balance of payments
(EUR billions; 12-month cumulated data)
Source: ECB. Notes: “MFI net external assets (enhanced)” incorporates an adjustment to the MFI net external assets (as reported in the consolidated MFI balance sheet items statistics) based on information on MFI long-term liabilities held by non-residents, available in b.o.p. statistics. B.o.p. transactions refer only to transactions of non-MFI residents of the euro area. Financial transactions are shown as liabilities net of assets. “Other” includes financial derivatives and statistical discrepancies.
The monetary presentation of the balance of payments (Chart 3) shows that the net external assets (enhanced) of euro area MFIs increased by €541 billion in the 12 months to August 2024. This increase was mainly driven by the current and capital accounts surplus and, to a lesser extent, by euro area non-MFIs’ net inflows in portfolio investment debt, portfolio investment equity and other investment. These developments were partly offset by euro area non-MFIs’ net outflows in direct investment and other flows.
In August 2024 the Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets increased to €1,288.4 billion up from €1,282.8 billion in the previous month (Table 3). This increase was mainly driven by positive price changes (€15.4 billion), mostly due to an increase in the price of gold. This development was partly offset by negative exchange rate changes (€6.8 billion) and net sales of assets (€3.0 billion).
Table 3
Reserve assets of the euro area
(EUR billions; amounts outstanding at the end of the period, flows during the period; non-working day and non-seasonally adjusted data)
Source: ECB. Notes: “Other reserve assets” comprises currency and deposits, securities, financial derivatives (net) and other claims. Discrepancies between totals and their components may be due to rounding.
Data for the reserve assets of the euro area
Data revisions
This press release incorporates revisions to the data for July 2024. These revisions did not significantly alter the figures previously published.
Next releases:
- Monthly balance of payments: 19 November 2024 (reference data up to September 2024)
- Quarterly balance of payments: 13 January 2025 (reference data up to the third quarter of 2024)[1]
For media queries, please contact Nicos Keranis, tel.: +49 69 1344 5482.
Notes
- Current account data are always seasonally and working day-adjusted, unless otherwise indicated, whereas capital and financial account data are neither seasonally nor working day-adjusted.
- Hyperlinks in this press release lead to data that may change with subsequent releases as a result of revisions.
