Euro area monthly balance of payments: January 2024

21 March 2024

• Current account recorded €39 billion surplus in January 2024, up from €32 billion in previous month
• Current account surplus amounted to €294 billion (2.0% of euro area GDP) in the 12 months to January 2024, after a €91 billion deficit (0.7% of euro area GDP) one year earlier
• In financial account, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €374 billion and non-residents’ net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €523 billion in the 12 months to January 2024

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 €39 billion in January 2024, an increase of €7 billion from the previous month (Chart 1 and Table 1). Surpluses were recorded for goods (€47 billion) and services (€ 5 billion), while deficits were recorded for secondary income (€9 billion) and primary income (€3 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 January 2024, the current account recorded a surplus of €294 billion (2.0% of euro area GDP), compared with a deficit of €91 billion (0.7% of euro area GDP) one year earlier. This development was mainly driven by a switch from a deficit (€84 billion) to a surplus (€317 billion) for goods, and, to a lesser extent, by a smaller deficit for secondary income (down from €168 billion to €159 billion). These developments were partly offset by reductions in the surpluses for primary income (down from €18 billion to €1 billion) and services (down from €144 billion to €135 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 €161 billion in non-euro area assets in the 12 months to January 2024, increasing from net disinvestments of €63 billion one year earlier (Chart 2 and Table 2). Non-residents disinvested €219 billion in net terms from euro area assets in the 12 months to January 2024, down from net disinvestments of €361 billion one year earlier.

In portfolio investment, euro area residents’ net sales of non-euro area equity declined to €11 billion in the 12 months to January 2024, down from €185 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, net purchases of non-euro area debt securities by euro-area residents amounted to €385 billion, following net sales of €25 billion one year earlier. Non-residents’ net purchases of euro area equity increased to €150 billion in the 12 months to January 2024, up from €66 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, non-residents made net purchases of euro area debt securities amounting to €373 billion, up from €30 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 €119 billion in the 12 months to January 2024 (following net disposals of €28 billion one year earlier), while they recorded net disposals of liabilities of €240 billion (up from €56 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 €497 billion in the 12 months to January 2024. 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 debt and equity. These developments were partly offset by euro area non-MFIs’ net outflows in direct investment and other flows.

In January 2024 the Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets increased to €1,158.1 billion up from €1,147.6 billion in the previous month (Table 3). This increase was mostly driven by positive exchange rate changes (€5.2 billion) and positive price changes (€4.3 billion) and, to a lesser extent, by net acquisitions of assets (€0.8 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 does not incorporate revisions to previous periods.

Next releases:

• Quarterly balance of payments: 9 April 2024 (reference data up to the fourth quarter of 2023)
• Monthly balance of payments: 18 April 2024 (reference data up to February 2024)

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.