Euro area monthly balance of payments: March 2023

23 May 2023

• Current account recorded €31 billion surplus in March 2023, up from €24 billion in previous month
• Current account deficit amounted to €76 billion (0.6% of euro area GDP) in 12 months to March 2023, compared with a surplus of €189 billion (1.5%) one year earlier
• In financial account, euro area residents’ net sales of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €181 billion and non-residents’ net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €162 billion in 12 months to March 2023

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 surplus of €31 billion in March 2023, an increase of €7 billion from the previous month (Chart 1 and Table 1). Surpluses were recorded for goods (€41 billion) and services (€5 billion). Deficits were recorded for secondary income (€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)

In the 12 months to March 2023, the current account recorded a deficit of €76 billion (0.6% of euro area GDP), compared with a surplus of €189 billion (1.5% of euro area GDP) one year earlier. This development was mainly driven by a switch from a surplus (€181 billion) to a deficit (€4 billion) for goods, a switch from a surplus (€49 billion) to a deficit (€19 billion) for primary income, and, to a lesser extent, by a larger deficit for secondary income (up from €156 billion to €164 billion) and a reduction in the surplus for services (down from €115 billion to €111 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 €179 billion in non-euro area assets in the 12 months to March 2023, following net investments of €109 billion one year earlier (Chart 2 and Table 2). Non-residents disinvested €328 billion in net terms from euro area assets in the 12 months to March 2023, following net disinvestments of €85 billion one year earlier.

In portfolio investment, euro area residents’ net sales of non-euro area equity amounted to €149 billion in the 12 months to March 2023, following net purchases of €186 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, net sales of non-euro area debt securities by euro-area residents amounted to €32 billion, following net purchases of €321 billion one year earlier. Non-residents’ net purchases of euro area equity decreased to €135 billion in the 12 months to March 2023, down from €485 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, non-residents made net purchases of euro area debt securities amounting to €27 billion, following net sales of €187 billion one year earlier.

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 acquisitions of non-euro area assets amounting to €35 billion in the 12 months to March 2023 (down from €424 billion one year earlier), while they recorded net disposals of liabilities amounting to €176 billion (following net acquisitions of €816 billion one year earlier).

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 increased by €39 billion in the 12 months to March 2023. This increase was mainly driven by euro area non-MFIs’ net inflows in portfolio investment equity and portfolio investment debt, and the current and capital accounts surplus. These developments were partly offset by euro area non-MFIs’ net outflows in direct investment and other investment.

In March 2023 the Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets increased to €1,133.1 billion, up from €1,096.2 billion in the previous month (Table 3). This increase was driven by positive price changes (€42.8 billion), primarily for monetary gold, and, to a lesser extent, by net acquisitions of assets (€1.6 billion) which were partly offset by negative exchange rate changes (€7.9 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 and February 2023. These revisions did not significantly alter the figures previously published.

Next releases:

• Monthly balance of payments: 20 June 2023 (reference data up to April 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.