Euro area monthly balance of payments: July 2023

• Current account recorded €21 billion surplus in July 2023, down from €36 billion in previous month
• Current account surplus amounted to €34 billion (0.2% of euro area GDP) in the 12 months to July 2023, down from €66 billion (0.5%) one year earlier
• In financial account, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €207 billion and non-residents’ net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €419 billion in the 12 months to July 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 €21 billion in July 2023, a decrease of €15 billion from the previous month (Chart 1 and Table 1). Surpluses were recorded for goods (€23 billion), services (€11 billion) and primary income (€ 1 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 July 2023, the current account recorded a surplus of €34 billion (0.2% of euro area GDP), compared with a surplus of €66 billion (0.5% of euro area GDP) one year earlier. This development was mainly driven by a switch from a surplus (€77 billion) to a deficit (€15 billion) for primary income and by a reduction in the surplus for services (down from €136 billion to €90 billion). These developments were partly offset by a larger surplus for goods (up from €25 billion to €119 billion) and a smaller deficit for secondary income (down from €172 billion to €160 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 €205 billion in non-euro area assets in the 12 months to July 2023, following net investments of €284 billion one year earlier (Chart 2 and Table 2). Non-residents disinvested €247 billion in net terms from euro area assets in the 12 months to July 2023, following net disinvestments of €79 billion one year earlier.

In portfolio investment, euro area residents’ net sales of non-euro area equity increased slightly to €25 billion in the 12 months to July 2023, up from €24 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, net purchases of non-euro area debt securities by euro-area residents increased to €233 billion, up from €104 billion one year earlier. Non-residents’ net purchases of euro area equity decreased to €89 billion in the 12 months to July 2023, down from €264 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, non-residents made net purchases of euro area debt securities amounting to €330 billion, following net sales of €228 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 €89 billion in the 12 months to July 2023 (following net acquisitions of €437 billion one year earlier), and they recorded net disposals of liabilities amounting to €360 billion (following net acquisitions of €864 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 €191 billion in the 12 months to July 2023. This increase was mainly driven by euro area non-MFIs’ net inflows in portfolio investment debt and portfolio investment equity and the current and capital accounts surplus. These developments were partly offset by euro area non-MFIs’ net outflows in direct investment and other flows.

In July 2023 the Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets increased to €1,109.7 billion up from €1,105.2 billion in the previous month (Table 3). This increase was driven by positive price changes (€8.1 billion) and, to a lesser extent, by net acquisitions of assets (€0.4 billion) which were partly offset by negative exchange rate changes (€4.0 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: 5 October 2023 (reference data up to the second quarter of 2023)
• Monthly balance of payments: 19 October 2023 (reference data up to August 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.

European Central Bank