Euro area monthly balance of payments: March 2022

19 May 2022

• Current account recorded €2 billion deficit in March 2022, down from €16 billion surplus in previous month
• Current account surplus amounted to €219 billion (1.8% of euro area GDP) in 12 months to March 2022, down from €294 billion (2.6%) one year earlier
• In financial account, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €458 billion and non-residents’ net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €170 billion in 12 months to March 2022

Chart 1

Euro area current account balance

(EUR billions unless otherwise indicated; working day and seasonally adjusted data)

The current account of the euro area recorded a deficit of €2 billion in March 2022, after recording a surplus of €16 billion in the previous month (Chart 1 and Table 1). Deficits were recorded for secondary income (€12 billion) and goods (€4 billion). These were partly offset by surpluses for services (€14 billion) and primary income (€1 billion).

Table 1

Current account of the euro area

(EUR billions unless otherwise indicated; transactions; working day and seasonally adjusted data)

Data for the current account of the euro area

In the 12 months to March 2022, the current account recorded a surplus of €219 billion (1.8% of euro area GDP), compared with a surplus of €294 billion (2.6% of euro area GDP) in the 12 months to March 2021. This decline was driven by a reduction in the surplus for goods (down from €355 billion to €199 billion).This development was partly offset by larger surpluses for services (up from €69 billion to €116 billion) and primary income (up from €38 billion to €58 billion) and a smaller deficit for secondary income (down from €168 billion to €154 billion)

Chart 2

Selected items of the euro area financial account

(EUR billions; 12-month cumulated data)

In direct investment, euro area residents made net investments of €88 billion in non-euro area assets in the 12-month period to March 2022, following net investments of €161 billion in the 12 months to March 2021 (Chart 2 and Table 2). At the same time, non-residents disinvested €121 billion in net terms from euro area assets in the 12-month period to March 2022, following net acquisitions of €201 billion in the 12 months to March 2021.

In portfolio investment, euro area residents’ net purchases of non-euro area equity decreased to €154 billion in the 12 months to March 2022, down from €529 billion in the 12 months to March 2021. Over the same period, net purchases of non-euro area debt securities by euro area residents decreased to €303 billion, down from € 563 billion in the 12 months to March 2021. Non-residents’ net purchases of euro area equity decreased to €347 billion in the 12-month period to March 2022, down from € 349 billion in the 12 months to March 2021. Over the same period, non-residents continued to make net sales of euro area debt securities amounting to €177 billion, following net sales of €75 billion in the 12 months to March 2021.

Table 2

Financial account of the euro area

(EUR billions unless otherwise indicated; transactions; non-working day and non-seasonally adjusted data)

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 €325 billion in the 12 months to March 2022 (following net disposals of €294 billion in the 12 months to March 2021), while their net incurrence of liabilities increased to €816 billion (up from €156 billion in the 12 months to March 2021).

Chart 3

Monetary presentation of the balance of payments

(EUR billions; 12-month cumulated data)

The monetary presentation of the balance of payments (Chart 3) shows that the net external assets (enhanced) of euro area MFIs decreased by €249 billion in the 12-month period to March 2022. This decrease was driven by euro area non-MFIs’ net outflows in portfolio investment debt and direct investment. These developments were partly offset by the current and capital accounts surplus and by euro area non-MFIs’ net inflows in portfolio investment equity.

In March 2022 the Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets increased to €1102.8 billion, up from €1092.0 billion in the previous month (Table 3). This increase was mostly driven by net positive price changes (€9.9 billion, driven by €11.3 billion due to monetary gold) and, to a lesser extent, by net positive exchange rate changes (€0.9 billion) and net acquisitions of assets (€0.1 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)

Data for the reserve assets of the euro area

Data revisions

This press release incorporates revisions to the data for January and February 2022. These revisions did not significantly alter the figures previously published.

Next releases:

• Monthly balance of payments: 21 June 2022 (reference data up to April 2022)
• Quarterly balance of payments and international investment position: 5 July 2022 (reference data up to the first quarter of 2022)

For media queries, please contact Philippe Rispal, 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.