Euro area monthly balance of payments: June 2024

20 August 2024

• Current account recorded €51 billion surplus in June 2024, up from €38 billion in previous month
• Current account surplus amounted to €370 billion (2.5% of euro area GDP) in the 12 months to June 2024, up from €30 billion (0.2%) one year earlier
• In financial account, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €478 billion and non-residents’ net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €612 billion in the 12 months to June 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 €51 billion in June 2024, an increase of €13 billion from the previous month (Chart 1 and Table 1). Surpluses were recorded for goods (€39 billion), primary income (€14 billion) and services (€12 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 June 2024, the current account recorded a surplus of €370 billion (2.5% of euro area GDP), compared with a surplus of €30 billion (0.2% of euro area GDP) one year earlier. This increase was mainly driven by a larger surplus for goods (up from €39 billion to €359 billion) and, to a lesser extent, by larger surpluses for primary income (up from €34 billion to €42 billion) and services (up from €127 billion to €134 billion), as well as a smaller deficit for secondary income (down from €169 billion to €165 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 €136 billion in non-euro area assets in the 12 months to June 2024, declining from net disinvestments of €269 billion one year earlier (Chart 2 and Table 2). Non-residents disinvested €268 billion in net terms from euro area assets in the 12 months to June 2024, decreasing from net disinvestments of €323 billion one year earlier.

In portfolio investment, euro area residents’ net purchases of non-euro area equity amounted to €87 billion in the 12 months to June 2024, following net sales of €32 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, net purchases of non-euro area debt securities by euro-area residents increased to €390 billion, up from €262 billion one year earlier. Non-residents’ net purchases of euro area equity increased to €265 billion in the 12 months to June 2024, up from €162 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, non-residents’ net purchases of euro area debt securities rose to €347 billion, up from €273 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 €198 billion in the 12 months to June 2024 (following net disposals of €35 billion one year earlier), while they recorded net disposals of liabilities of €216 billion (down from €279 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 €547 billion in the 12 months to June 2024. This increase was driven by the current and capital accounts surplus and, to a lesser extent, by euro area non-MFIs’ net inflows in portfolio investment debt, other investment, portfolio investment equities, and other flows. These developments were partly offset by euro area non-MFIs’ net outflows in direct investment.

In June 2024 the Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets increased to €1,267.5 billion up from €1,253.4 billion in the previous month (Table 3). This increase was mostly driven by price changes (€7.8 billion) and exchange rate changes (€5.0 billion) and, to a lesser extent, by net acquisitions of assets (€1.3 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 April and May 2024. These revisions did not significantly alter the figures previously published.

Next releases:

• Monthly balance of payments: 19 September 2024 (reference data up to July 2024)
• Quarterly balance of payments: 04 October 2024 (reference data up to the second quarter of 2024)

For media queries, please contact Nicos Keranis, 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.