Euro area balance of payments in March 2014

In March 2014 the seasonally adjusted current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €18.8 billion. In the financial account, combined direct and portfolio investment recorded net outflows of €30 billion (non-seasonally adjusted).

Current account

The seasonally adjusted current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €18.8 billion in March 2014 (see Table 1). This reflected surpluses for goods (€13.8 billion), services (€8.5 billion) and income (€5.8 billion), which were partly offset by a deficit for current transfers (€9.3 billion).

The seasonally adjusted 12-month cumulated current account for the period ending in March 2014 recorded a surplus of €244 billion (2.5% of euro area GDP), compared with one of €169.4 billion (1.8% of euro area GDP) for the 12 months to March 2013 (see Table 1 and Chart 1). The increase in the current account surplus was due mainly to increases in the surpluses for goods (€174.3 billion, up from €116.3 billion) and, to a lesser extent, for services (€119.4 billion, up from €96.7 billion) and income (€68.6 billion, up from €65.6 billion). These surpluses were partly offset by an increase in the deficit for current transfers (from €109.2 to €118.3 billion).

Financial account

In the financial account (see Table 2), combined direct and portfolio investment recorded net outflows of €30 billion in March 2014 as a result of net outflows for direct investment (€22 billion) and portfolio investment (€8 billion).

The net outflows for direct investment were mainly a result of net outflows for equity capital and reinvested earnings (€15 billion), although net outflows for other capital (mostly inter-company loans) were also a factor (€7 billion).

The net inflows for portfolio investment were accounted for by net inflows for both equity (€13 billion) and debt instruments (€12 billion). Whereas the net inflows for equity resulted from both net disposals of foreign securities by euro area residents and net purchases of euro area securities by non-residents, the net inflows for debt instruments resulted from the fact that net purchases of euro area securities by non-residents were higher than the net purchases of foreign securities by euro area residents. By maturity, the net inflows for debt instruments resulted from two compensatory effects, namely from net inflows in bonds and notes (€41 billion) and net outflows in money market instruments (€30 billion).

The financial derivatives account recorded net inflows of €3 billion.

Other investment recorded net outflows (€72 billion), reflecting net outflows for all sectors, predominantly MFIs excluding the Eurosystem (€48 billion), the Eurosystem (€13 billion) and other sectors (€10 billion).

The Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets decreased by €8 billion in March 2014 (from €579 billion to €570 billion), mainly on account of a decrease in the market price of gold.

Data revisions

In addition, this press release incorporates regular revisions for February 2014. These revisions have not significantly altered the figures previously published for the current,  capital and  financial accounts.

Additional information on the euro area balance of payments and international investment position

In this press release, the seasonally adjusted current account refers to working day and seasonally adjusted data. Data for the financial account are not working day or seasonally adjusted.

In line with the agreed allocation of responsibilities, the European Central Bank compiles and disseminates monthly and quarterly balance of payments statistics for the euro area, whereas the European Commission (Eurostat; see news releases for “Euro-indicators”) focuses on quarterly and annual aggregates for the European Union. These data comply with international standards, particularly those set out in the IMF’s Balance of Payments Manual (fifth edition). The aggregates for the euro area and the European Union are compiled consistently on the basis of transactions and positions vis-à-vis residents of countries outside the euro area and the European Union respectively.

A complete set of updated euro area balance of payments statistics (including a quarterly geographical breakdown for the main counterparts) and international investment position statistics, as well as historical euro area balance of payments time series, can be downloaded from the ECB’s Statistical Data Warehouse (SDW). Data up to March 2014 will also be published in the June 2014 issues of the ECB’s Monthly Bulletin and Statistics Pocket Book. Detailed methodological notes are available on the ECB’s website. The next press release on the euro area monthly balance of payments will be published on 20 June 2014. The ECB will start publishing, at the end of 2014, the euro area balance of payments and international investment positions statistics in accordance with its Guideline ECB/2011/23, which adheres to the sixth edition of the IMF’s Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6). More detailed information is available on a dedicated webpage.

Annexes

Table 1: Current account of the euro area

Table 2: Monthly balance of payments of the euro area