Euro area monthly balance of payments (June 2015)

• In June 2015 the current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €25.4 billion. ^[1]
• In the financial account, combined direct and portfolio investment recorded an increase of €42 billion in assets and a decrease of €6 billion in liabilities.

Current account

The current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €25.4 billion in June 2015 (see Table 1). This reflected surpluses for goods (€27.2 billion), services (€5.7 billion) and primary income (€1.0 billion), which were partly offset by a deficit in secondary income (€8.4 billion).

The 12-month cumulated current account for the period ending in June 2015 recorded a surplus of €265.5 billion (2.6% of euro area GDP), compared with a surplus of €177.0 billion (1.8% of euro area GDP) for the 12 months to June 2014 (see Table 1 and Chart 1). The increase in the current account surplus was due mainly to an increase in the surplus for goods (from €213.2 billion to €294.4 billion) and, to a lesser extent, to an increase in the surplus for primary income (from €32.7 billion to €42.4 billion) and a decrease in the deficit for secondary income (from €141.6 billion to €134.5 billion). These were partly offset by a decrease in the surplus for services (from €72.8 billion to €63.2 billion).

Financial account

In the financial account (see Table 2) in June 2015, combined direct and portfolio investment recorded an increase of €42 billion in assets and a decrease of €6 billion in liabilities.

Euro area residents recorded an increase of €16 billion in direct investment assets, which was due to an increase in debt instruments (€16 billion), while equity remained broadly unchanged. Direct investment liabilities increased by €15 billion, on account of increases in debt instruments (€10 billion) and equity (€5 billion).

As regards portfolio investment assets, euro area residents made net acquisitions of foreign securities in a total amount of €26 billion, owing to net purchases of short-term and long-term debt securities (around €14 billion each), which were partly offset by net sales of equity (€2 billion). The decrease of €21 billion in euro area portfolio investment liabilities was mainly due to net sales by non-euro area residents of euro area short-term debt securities (€46 billion), which were only partly offset by net acquisitions of long-term debt securities (€20 billion) and equity (€5 billion).

The euro area net financial derivatives account (assets minus liabilities) recorded negative net flows of €3 billion.

Other investment recorded decreases of €115 billion in assets and €139 billion in liabilities. The decrease in assets was mainly driven by MFIs (excluding the Eurosystem) (€108 billion) and by general government, albeit to a lesser extent (€8 billion). The decrease in liabilities was also explained mainly by developments in the MFIs (excluding the Eurosystem) sector (€119 billion) and, to a lesser extent, by decreases in other sectors (€22 billion) and general government (€5 billion).

The Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets decreased by €14 billion in June 2015 (to €658 billion). This was mostly explained by negative revaluations of gold prices (€12 billion), as well as asset price and exchange rate developments for other reserve assets, which were partly offset by net acquisitions of reserve assets (€3 billion).

In the 12 months to June 2015 combined direct and portfolio investment recorded cumulated increases of €807 billion in assets and €536 billion in liabilities, compared with increases of €740 billion and €781 billion respectively in the 12 months to June 2014. This resulted from a decrease in the direct investment activity of both euro area residents abroad and non-residents in the euro area, whereas activity in portfolio investment showed a significant increase in the net acquisition of foreign debt securities by euro area residents and a preference by non-euro area investors for euro area equity, as opposed to debt securities.

According to the monetary presentation of the balance of payments, the net external assets of euro area MFIs increased by €38 billion in the 12 months to June 2015, compared with an increase of €313 billion in the preceding 12-month period. This development in the MFIs’ net external assets continued primarily to reflect a surplus of €287 billion in the current and capital account balance, which has in the last 12 months been partially offset by, among other things, (i) larger net purchases of portfolio investment assets by euro area non-MFI residents (€374 billion, compared with €334 billion) and (ii) an increase in the net direct investment transactions of euro area non-MFI residents (from €46 billion to €73 billion), thus reducing the involvement of domestic banks.

Data revisions

This press release incorporates revisions for the reference period May 2015. These revisions have not significantly altered the figures previously published.

Additional information

Time series data

Methodological information Monetary presentation of the balance of payments

Next press releases:

• Monthly balance of payments: 18 September 2015 (reference data up to July 2015);
• Quarterly balance of payments and international investment position: 8 October 2015 (reference data up to the second quarter of 2015).

Annexes

Table 1: Current account of the euro area Table 2: Balance of payments of the euro area

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