Euro area monthly balance of payments: February 2023

19 April 2023

• Current account recorded €24 billion surplus in February 2023, up from €19 billion in previous month
• Current account deficit amounted to €114 billion (0.9% of euro area GDP) in 12 months to February 2023, compared with a surplus of €222 billion (1.8%) one year earlier
• In financial account, euro area residents’ net sales of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €202 billion and non-residents’ net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €175 billion in 12 months to February 2023

Chart 1

Euro area current account balance

(EUR billions; working day and seasonally adjusted data)

The current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €24 billion in February 2023, an increase of €5 billion from the previous month (Chart 1 and Table 1). Surpluses were recorded for goods (€28 billion) and services (€12 billion). These were partly offset by deficits for secondary income (€12 billion) and primary income (€5 billion).

Table 1

Current account of the euro area

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

In the 12 months to February 2023, the current account recorded a deficit of €114 billion (0.9% of euro area GDP), compared with a surplus of €222 billion (1.8% of euro area GDP) in the 12 months to February 2022. This change in the current account balance was mainly driven by a switch from a surplus (€214 billion) to a deficit (€51 billion) for goods, a switch from a surplus (€57 billion) to a deficit (€20 billion) for primary income and, to a lesser extent, by a larger deficit for secondary income (up from €158 billion to €161 billion). These developments were partly offset by a larger surplus for services (up from €109 billion to €118 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 disinvestments of €209 billion in non-euro area assets in the 12 months to February 2023, following net investments of €132 billion in the 12 months to February 2022 (Chart 2 and Table 2). Non-residents disinvested €344 billion in net terms from euro area assets in the 12 months to February 2023, following net disinvestments of €86 billion in the 12 months to February 2022.

In portfolio investment, euro area residents’ net sales of non-euro area equity amounted to €174 billion in the 12 months to February 2023, following net purchases of €276 billion in the 12 months to February 2022. Over the same period, net sales of non-euro area debt securities by euro-area residents amounted to €28 billion, following net purchases of €349 billion in the 12 months to February 2022. Non-residents’ net purchases of euro area equity decreased to €106 billion in the 12 months to February 2023, down from €555 billion in the 12 months to February 2022. Over the same period, non-residents’ net purchases of euro area debt securities amounted to €69 billion, following net sales of €199 billion in the 12 months to February 2022.

Table 2

Financial account of the euro area

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

In other investment, euro area residents recorded net disposals of non-euro area assets amounting to €29 billion in the 12 months to February 2023 (following net acquisitions of €380 billion in the 12 months to February 2022), while they recorded net disposals of liabilities amounting to €194 billion in the 12 months to February 2023 (following net acquisitions of €808 billion in the 12 months to February 2022).

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 €91 billion in the 12 months to February 2023. This decrease was driven by euro area non-MFIs’ net outflows in direct investment, other investment and other flows. These developments were partly offset by euro area non-MFIs’ net inflows in portfolio investment equity and debt and, to a lesser extent, by the current and capital accounts surplus.

In February 2023 the Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets decreased to €1,096.1 billion, down from €1,125.4 billion in the previous month (Table 3). This decrease was driven by negative price changes (€22.0 billion) and by net sales of assets (€11.4 billion) which were partly offset by positive exchange rate changes (€ 4.1 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 revisions

This press release incorporates revisions to the data for January 2023. These revisions did not significantly alter the figures previously published.

Next releases:

• Monthly balance of payments: 23 May 2023 (reference data up to March 2023)
• Quarterly balance of payments: 4 July 2023 (reference data up to the first quarter of 2023)

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.