Euro area monthly balance of payments: April 2024

19 June 2024

• Current account recorded €39 billion surplus in April 2024, up from €36 billion in previous month
• Current account surplus amounted to €337 billion (2.3% of euro area GDP) in the 12 months to April 2024, after a €53 billion deficit (0.4%) one year earlier
• In financial account, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €433 billion and non-residents’ net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €585 billion in the 12 months to April 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 €39 billion in April 2024, an increase of €3 billion from the previous month (Chart 1 and Table 1). Surpluses were recorded for goods (€38 billion), services (€11 billion) and primary income (€ 2 billion). These were partly offset by a deficit for secondary income (€12 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 April 2024, the current account recorded a surplus of €337 billion (2.3% of euro area GDP), compared with a deficit of €53 billion (0.4% of euro area GDP) one year earlier. This increase was mainly driven by a switch from a deficit (€13 billion) to a surplus (€339 billion) for goods and, to a lesser extent, by a switch from a deficit (€1 billion) to a surplus (€35 billion) for primary income, as well as by a smaller deficit for secondary income (down from €165 billion to €155 billion). These developments were partly offset by reduction in the surplus for services (down from €126 billion to €118 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 €285 billion in non-euro area assets in the 12 months to April 2024, increasing from net disinvestments of €142 billion one year earlier (Chart 2 and Table 2). Non-residents disinvested €389 billion in net terms from euro area assets in the 12 months to April 2024, up from net disinvestments of €344 billion one year earlier.

In portfolio investment, euro area residents’ net purchases of non-euro area equity amounted to €15 billion in the 12 months to April 2024, after net sales of €99 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, net purchases of non-euro area debt securities by euro-area residents increased to €417 billion, up from €68 billion one year earlier. Non-residents’ net purchases of euro area equity increased to €226 billion in the 12 months to April 2024, up from €77 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, non-residents net purchases of euro area debt securities rose to €359 billion, up from €155 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 €155 billion in the 12 months to April 2024 (following net disposals of €9 billion one year earlier), while they recorded net disposals of liabilities of €178 billion (up from €157 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 €494 billion in the 12 months to April 2024. This increase was mainly driven by the current and capital accounts surplus and, to a lesser extent, by euro area non-MFIs’ net inflows in portfolio investment equity, portfolio investment debt and other investment. These developments were partly offset by euro area non-MFIs’ net outflows in direct investment and other flows.

In April 2024 the Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets increased to €1,253.8 billion up from €1,215.0 billion in the previous month (Table 3). This increase was mostly driven by positive price changes (€36.3 billion) and, to a lesser extent, by positive exchange rate changes (€1.9 billion) and net acquisitions of assets (€0.8 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: 04 July 2024 (reference data up to the first quarter of 2024)
• Monthly balance of payments: 19 July 2024 (reference data up to May 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.