Euro area monthly balance of payments: February 2026

17 April 2026

• Current account recorded €25 billion surplus in February 2026, down from €40 billion in previous month
• Current account surplus amounted to €289 billion (1.8% of euro area GDP) in the 12 months to February 2026, down from €371 billion (2.4%) one year earlier
• In financial account, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €918 billion and non-residents’ net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €1,013 billion in the 12 months to February 2026

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 €25 billion in February 2026, a decrease of €15 billion from the previous month (Chart 1 and Table 1). Surpluses were recorded for goods (€25 billion) and services (€16 billion), while deficits were observed for secondary income (€14 billion) and primary income (€2 billion).

Table 1

Current account of the euro area

In the 12 months to February 2026, the current account recorded a surplus of €289 billion (1.8% of euro area GDP), compared with a surplus of €371 billion (2.4% of euro area GDP) one year earlier. This decrease was mainly driven by a switch from a surplus (€29 billion) to a deficit (€29 billion) for primary income and, to a lesser extent, by a reduction in the surplus for services (down from €177 billion to €153 billion) and larger deficit for secondary income (up from €177 billion to €191 billion). These developments were partly offset by larger surplus for goods (up from €343 billion to €355 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 investments of €248 billion in non-euro area assets in the 12 months to February 2026, following net investments of €211 billion one year earlier (Chart 2 and Table 2). Non-residents invested €15 billion in net terms in euro area assets in the 12 months to February 2026, following net investments of €21 billion one year earlier.

In portfolio investment, euro area residents’ net purchases of non-euro area equity increased to €268 billion in the 12 months to February 2026, up from €250 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, net purchases of non-euro area debt securities by euro-area residents increased to €650 billion, up from €565 billion one year earlier. Non-residents’ net purchases of euro area equity decreased to €464 billion in the 12 months to February 2026, down from €492 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, non-residents made net purchases of euro area debt securities amounting to €549 billion, up from €372 billion one year earlier.

Table 2

Financial account of the euro area

In other investment, euro area residents recorded net acquisitions of non-euro area assets amounting to €693 billion in the 12 months to February 2026 (following net acquisitions of €546 billion one year earlier), while their net incurrence of liabilities increased to €508 billion (up from €231 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 €272 billion in the 12 months to February 2026. This increase was driven by the current and capital accounts surplus and euro area non-MFIs’ net inflows in portfolio investment equity and debt, other investment and other flows. These developments were partly offset by euro area non-MFIs’ net outflows in direct investment.

In February 2026 the Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets increased to €2,045.8 billion up from €1,986.9 billion in the previous month (Table 3). This increase was mostly driven by positive price changes (€53.5 billion), explained by the increase in the price of gold, and, to a lesser extent, by positive exchange rate changes (€3.8 billion) and net acquisitions of assets (€1.6 billion).

Table 3

Reserve assets of the euro area

Data revisions

This press release does not incorporate revisions to previous periods.

Next releases:

• Monthly balance of payments: 21 May 2026 (reference data up to March 2026)
• Quarterly balance of payments: 3 July 2026 (reference data up to the first quarter of 2026)

For media queries, please contact Benoît Deeg, tel.: +49 172 1683704.

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.