Euro area monthly balance of payments: September 2023

17 November 2023

• Current account recorded €31 billion surplus in September 2023, unchanged from the previous month
• Current account surplus amounted to €175 billion (1.2% of euro area GDP) in the 12 months to September 2023, after a €32 billion (0.2%) deficit one year earlier
• In financial account, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €421 billion and non-residents’ net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €462 billion in the 12 months to September 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 September 2023, unchanged from the previous month (Chart 1 and Table 1). Surpluses were recorded for goods (€31 billion), services (€8 billion) and primary income (€5 billion). These were partly offset by a deficit for secondary income (€14 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 September 2023, the current account recorded a surplus of €175 billion (1.2% of euro area GDP), compared with a deficit of €32 billion (0.2% of euro area GDP) one year earlier. This development was mainly driven by a switch from a deficit (€56 billion) to a surplus for goods (€199 billion) and, to a lesser extent, by a smaller deficit for secondary income (down from €176 billion to €156 billion). These developments were partly offset by reductions in the surpluses for primary income (down from €56 billion to €4 billion) and for services (down from €144 billion to €128 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 €312 billion in non-euro area assets in the 12 months to September 2023, following net investments of €270 billion one year earlier (Chart 2 and Table 2). Non-residents disinvested €385 billion in net terms from euro area assets in the 12 months to September 2023, following net disinvestments of €97 billion one year earlier.

In portfolio investment, euro area residents’ net purchases of non-euro area equity reached €33 billion in the 12 months to September 2023, following net sales of €165 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, net purchases of non-euro area debt securities by euro-area residents amounted to €387 billion, following net sales of €19 billion one year earlier. Non-residents’ net purchases of euro area equity increased to €174 billion in the 12 months to September 2023, up from €149 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, non-residents made net purchases of euro area debt securities amounting to €288 billion, following net sales of €95 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 disposals of non-euro area assets amounting to €128 billion in the 12 months to September 2023 (following net acquisitions of €424 billion one year earlier), while they recorded net disposals of liabilities of €334 billion (following net incurrences of liabilities of €602 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 rose by €283 billion in the 12 months to September 2023. This increase was mainly driven by the current and capital accounts surplus and, to a lesser extent, euro area non-MFIs’ net inflows in other investment, portfolio investment equity and portfolio investment debt. These developments were partly offset by euro area non-MFIs’ net outflows in direct investment and other flows.

In September 2023 the Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets decreased to €1,113.5 billion down from €1,118.7 billion in the previous month (Table 3). This reduction was driven by negative price changes (€10.3 billion) and, to a lesser extent, by net sales of assets (€3.9 billion) which were partly offset by positive exchange rate changes (€8.9 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 July 2023 and August 2023. These revisions did not significantly alter the figures previously published.

Next releases:

• Monthly balance of payments: 20 December 2023 (reference data up to October 2023)
• Quarterly balance of payments: 11 January 2024 (reference data up to the third 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.