Euro area monthly balance of payments (September 2015)

• In September 2015 the current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €29.4 billion. ^[1]
• In the financial account, combined direct and portfolio investment recorded increases of €23 billion in assets and of €33 billion in liabilities.

Current account

The current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €29.4 billion in September 2015 (see Table 1). This reflected surpluses for goods (€29.8 billion), services (€4.5 billion) and primary income (€4.8 billion), which were partly offset by a deficit in secondary income (€9.8 billion).

The 12-month cumulated current account for the period ending in September 2015 recorded a surplus of €303.5 billion (3.0% of euro area GDP), compared with a surplus of €229.3 billion (2.3% of euro area GDP) for the 12 months to September 2014 (see Table 1 and Chart 1). The increase in the current account surplus was largely due to an increase in the surplus for goods (from €231.8 billion to €312.4 billion) and, to a lesser extent, to an increase in the surplus for primary income (from €57.4 billion to €67.2 billion). These were partly offset by a decrease in the surplus for services (from €75.4 billion to €58.5 billion).

Financial account

In September 2015, combined direct and portfolio investment recorded increases of €23 billion in assets and of €33 billion in liabilities (see Table 2).

Euro area residents recorded an increase of €30 billion in direct investment assets, due to an increase in both equity (€20 billion) and debt instruments (€10 billion). Direct investment liabilities increased by €56 billion, also on account of increases in both equity (€22 billion) and debt instruments (€35 billion).

As regards portfolio investment assets, euro area residents made net sales of foreign securities in a total amount of €7 billion, owing to net sales of equity (€14 billion), partially compensated for by net acquisitions of debt securities (€7 billion). Transactions in foreign debt securities also show a change in the maturity preferences of resident investors, reflected in net purchases of long-term debt securities (€29 billion) and net sales of s hort-term debt securities (€22 billion). The decrease of €23 billion in euro area portfolio investment liabilities was due to net sales/amortisations of long-term and short-term debt securities (€18 billion and €5 billion, respectively).

The euro area net financial derivatives account (assets minus liabilities) recorded negative net flows of €6 billion.

Other investment recorded decreases of €71 billion in assets and of €91 billion in liabilities. The decrease in assets was mainly driven by the MFIs (excluding the Eurosystem) sector (€88 billion), partly offset by increases in other sectors (€13 billion) and in the Eurosystem (€4 billion). The decrease in liabilities was also explained by developments in the MFIs (excluding the Eurosystem) sector (€114 billion), which were partly offset by increases in the Eurosystem (€19 billion) and in other sectors (€4 billion).

The Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets increased by €7 billion in September 2015 (to €644 billion). This was explained by net acquisitions of reserve assets (€8 billion), which were partially compensated for by negative revaluations of gold prices (€2 billion).

In the 12 months to September 2015 combined direct and portfolio investment recorded cumulated increases of €769 billion in assets and €487 billion in liabilities, compared with increases of €729 billion and €666 billion respectively in the 12 months to September 2014. This resulted from an increase in the direct investment activity of both euro area residents abroad and non-residents in the euro area, recording an increase in assets from €332 billion to €406 billion, and an increase in liabilities from €250 billion to €337 billion.

The activity in portfolio investment showed a different tendency. While the net acquisition of foreign securities by euro area residents was somewhat reduced (from €397 billion to €363 billion), the level is still high and mostly due to increases in net purchases of long-term debt securities (from €176 billion to €352 billion). On the liability side , non-residents have decreased their acquisitions of euro area securities (from €416 billion to €150 billion), particularly as regards debt securities, where they have switched from net purchases (€115 billion) to net sales/amortisations (€57 billion).

According to the monetary presentation of the balance of payments, the net external assets of euro area MFIs decreased by €5 billion in the 12 months to September 2015, compared with an increase of €260 billion in the preceding 12-month period. This development in MFIs’ net external assets continued primarily to reflect a surplus, of €290 billion, in the current and capital account balance, which has in the last 12 months been more than offset by, among other things, a shift from net purchases by non-residents of debt securities issued by euro area non-MFI residents (€91 billion) to net sales/amortisations (€5 billion).

Data revisions

This press release incorporates revisions for July and August 2015. These revisions have not significantly altered the figures previously published.

Additional information

Time series data: ECB’s Statistical Data Warehouse (SDW)

Methodological information: ECB’s website

Monetary presentation of the balance of payments Next press releases:

• Monthly balance of payments: 18 December 2015 (reference data up to October 2015);
• Quarterly balance of payments and international investment position: 13 January 2016 (reference data up to the third quarter of 2015).

Annexes

Table 1: Current account of the euro area

Table 2: Balance of payments of the euro area

For media queries, please contact Rocío González, tel.: +49 69 1344 6451.