Euro area monthly balance of payments: December 2023

20 February 2024

• Current account recorded €32 billion surplus in December 2023, up from €22 billion in previous month
• Current account surplus amounted to €260 billion (1.8% of euro area GDP) in 2023, after a €82 billion deficit (0.6% of euro area GDP) in 2022
• In financial account, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €376 billion and non-residents’ net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €422 billion in 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 €32 billion in December 2023, an increase of €10 billion from the previous month (Chart 1 and Table 1). Surpluses were recorded for goods (€35 billion) and services (€16 billion), while deficits were recorded for secondary income (€13 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 2023 the current account recorded a surplus of €260 billion (1.8% of euro area GDP), compared with a deficit of €82 billion (0.6% of euro area GDP) in 2022. This development was mainly driven by a switch from a deficit (€81 billion) to a surplus (€274 billion) for goods, and, to a lesser extent, by a smaller deficit for secondary income (down from €172 billion to €160 billion). These developments were partly offset by reductions in the surpluses for primary income (down from €21 billion to €6 billion) and services (down from €149 billion to €140 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 €157 billion in non-euro area assets in 2023, up from net disinvestments of €12 billion in 2022 (Chart 2 and Table 2). Non-residents disinvested €208 billion in net terms from euro area assets in 2023, down from net disinvestments of €313 billion in 2022.

In portfolio investment, euro area residents’ net purchases of non-euro area equity reached €8 billion in 2023, following net sales of €186 billion in 2022. In 2023, net purchases of non-euro area debt securities by euro-area residents amounted to €368 billion, following net sales of €42 billion in 2022. Non-residents’ net purchases of euro area equity increased to €100 billion in 2023, up from €34 billion in 2022. In 2023, non-residents made net purchases of euro area debt securities amounting to €322 billion, up from €23 billion in 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 acquisitions of non-euro area assets amounting to €159 billion in 2023 (following net disposals of €15 billion in 2022), while they recorded net disposals of liabilities of €155 billion (following net incurrences of liabilities of €8 billion in 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 rose by €406 billion in 2023. This increase was mainly driven by the current and capital accounts surplus and, to a lesser extent, by euro area non-MFIs’ net inflows in other investment and portfolio investment equity and debt. These developments were partly offset by euro area non-MFIs’ net outflows in direct investment.

In December 2023 the Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets increased to €1,147.6 billion, up from €1,145.5 billion in the previous month (Table 3). This increase was driven by positive price changes (€2.6 billion) and by net acquisitions of assets (€1.2 billion), which were partly offset by negative exchange rate changes (€1.6 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 October and November 2023. It also includes revisions to the seasonally adjusted current account components from January 2013 onwards owing to the incorporation of newly estimated seasonal factors. These revisions did not significantly alter the figures previously published.

Next releases:

• Monthly balance of payments: 21 March 2024 (reference data up to January 2024)
• Quarterly balance of payments: 09 April 2024 (reference data up to the fourth 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.