Euro area monthly balance of payments: May 2024

19 July 2024

• Current account recorded €37 billion surplus in May 2024, unchanged from the previous month
• Current account surplus amounted to €349 billion (2.4% of euro area GDP) in the 12 months to May 2024, after a balanced account one year earlier
• In financial account, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €513 billion and non-residents’ net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €646 billion in the 12 months to May 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 €37 billion in May 2024, unchanged from the previous month (Chart 1 and Table 1). Surpluses were recorded for goods (€33 billion), services (€15 billion) and primary income (€ 4 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 May 2024, the current account recorded a surplus of €349 billion (2.4% of euro area GDP), after recording a balanced account one year earlier. This development was mainly driven by a shift from a deficit (€1 billion) to a surplus (€347 billion) for goods and, to a lesser extent, by a smaller deficit for secondary income (down from €172 billion to €166 billion) and a larger surplus for services (up from €131 billion to €134 billion). These developments were partly offset by a reduction in the surplus for primary income (down from €42 billion to €34 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 €143 billion in non-euro area assets in the 12 months to May 2024, declining from net disinvestments of €261 billion one year earlier (Chart 2 and Table 2). Non-residents disinvested €329 billion in net terms from euro area assets in the 12 months to May 2024, increasing from net disinvestments of €259 billion one year earlier.

In portfolio investment, euro area residents’ net purchases of non-euro area equity amounted to €56 billion in the 12 months to May 2024, following net sales of €59 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, net purchases of non-euro area debt securities by euro-area residents increased to €457 billion, up from €138 billion one year earlier. Non-residents’ net purchases of euro area equity increased to €259 billion in the 12 months to May 2024, up from €137 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, non-residents’ net purchases of euro area debt securities rose to €387 billion, up from €196 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 €226 billion in the 12 months to May 2024 (up from €23 billion one year earlier), while they recorded net disposals of liabilities of €127 billion (down from €271 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 €551 billion in the 12 months to May 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, portfolio investment equities, other investment and other flows. These developments were partly offset by euro area non-MFIs’ net outflows in direct investment.

In May 2024 the Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets slightly decreased to €1,253.4 billion down from €1,253.8 billion in the previous month (Table 3). This decrease was mainly driven by negative exchange rate changes (€5.1 billion), mostly offset by positive price changes (€2.3 billion) and net acquisitions of assets (€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 April 2024. These revisions did not significantly alter the figures previously published.

Next releases:

• Monthly balance of payments: 20 August 2024 (reference data up to June 2024)
• Quarterly balance of payments: 04 October 2024 (reference data up to the second quarter of 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.