Euro area monthly balance of payments: May 2022

20 July 2022

• Current account recorded €4 billion deficit in May 2022, in line with the previous month
• Current account surplus amounted to €138 billion (1.1% of euro area GDP) in 12 months to May 2022, down from €352 billion (3.0%) one year earlier
• In financial account, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €239 billion and non-residents’ net sales of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €10 billion in 12 months to May 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 €4 billion in May 2022, in line with the previous month (Chart 1 and Table 1). Deficits were mainly recorded for secondary income (€16 billion) and goods (€1 billion). These were partly offset by a surplus for services (€13 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 May 2022, the current account recorded a surplus of €138 billion (1.1% of euro area GDP), compared with a surplus of €352 billion (3.0% of euro area GDP) in the 12 months to May 2021. This decline was driven by a reduction in the surplus for goods (down from €382 billion to €132 billion) and primary income (down from €55 billion to €40 billion). This development was partly offset by larger surpluses for services (up from €74 billion to €120 billion) and a smaller deficit for secondary income (down from €159 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 €148 billion in non-euro area assets in the 12-month period to May 2022, following net disinvestments of €33 billion in the 12 months to May 2021 (Chart 2 and Table 2). At the same time, non-residents disinvested €105 billion in net terms from euro area assets in the 12-month period to May 2022, following net disinvestments of €31 billion in the 12 months to May 2021.

In portfolio investment, euro area residents’ net purchases of non-euro area equity decreased to €57 billion in the 12 months to May 2022, down from €558 billion in the 12 months to May 2021. Over the same period, net purchases of non-euro area debt securities by euro area residents decreased to €182 billion, from €429 billion in the 12 months to May 2021. Non-residents’ net purchases of euro area equity decreased to €223 billion in the 12-month period to May 2022, down from €343 billion in the 12 months to May 2021. Over the same period non-residents made net sales of euro area debt securities amounting to €233 billion, following net sales of €136 billion in the 12 months to May 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 €302 billion in the 12 months to May 2022 (following net acquisitions of €1 billion in the 12 months to May 2021), while their net incurrence of liabilities increased to €843 billion (up from €339 billion in the 12 months to May 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 €284 billion in the 12-month period to May 2022. This decrease was mainly 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 and other investment.

In May 2022 the Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets decreased to €1108.2 billion, down from €1144.2 billion in the previous month (Table 3). This decrease was driven by negative price changes (€30.4 billion, mainly due to a €31 billion price decrease for monetary gold) and exchange rate changes (€6.6 billion) and partially offset by net acquisition of assets (€1.2 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 April 2022. These revisions did not significantly alter the figures previously published.

Next releases:

• Monthly balance of payments: 19 August 2022 (reference data up to June 2022)
• Quarterly balance of payments and international investment position: 5 October 2022 (reference data up to the second 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.