Euro area monthly balance of payments (April 2017)

• In April 2017 the current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €22.2 billion.^[1]
• In the financial account, combined direct and portfolio investment recorded net acquisitions of assets of €71 billion and net incurrences of liabilities of €1 billion.
• 

Current account

The current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €22.2 billion in April 2017 (see Table 1). This reflected surpluses for goods (€25.1 billion), primary income (€8.2 billion) and services (€7.4 billion), which were partly offset by a deficit for secondary income (€18.5 billion).

The 12-month cumulated current account for the period ending in April 2017 recorded a surplus of €349.9 billion (3.2% of euro area GDP), compared with one of €358.6 billion (3.4% of euro area GDP) for the 12 months to April 2016 (see Table 1 and Chart 1). This development was due to decreases in the surpluses for services (from €70.4 billion to €57.8 billion) and goods (from €359.5 billion to €357.2 billion), and an increase in the deficit for secondary income (from €122.4 billion to €145.0 billion). These were partly offset by an increase in the surplus for primary income (from €51.1 billion to €79.9 billion).

Financial account

In April 2017 combined direct and portfolio investment recorded net acquisitions of assets of €71 billion and net incurrences of liabilities of €1 billion (see Table 2).

Euro area residents recorded net acquisitions of €28 billion of direct investment assets as a result of net acquisitions of equity (€13 billion) and debt instruments (€15 billion). Direct investment liabilities also increased by €4 billion as a result of net acquisitions of euro area equity by non-euro area residents.

With reference to portfolio investment assets, euro area residents made net acquisitions of foreign securities amounting to €43 billion. This resulted from net purchases of long-term debt securities (€42 billion) and equity (€22 billion), which were partly offset by net sales/amortisation of short-term debt securities (€21 billion). Portfolio investment liabilities decreased by €3 billion as a result of net sales/amortisations of debt securities by non-euro area residents (€33 billion), mainly driven by long-term debt securities (€36 billion), which were partly offset by non-euro area residents’ net acquisitions of euro area equity (€30 billion).

The euro area net financial derivatives account (assets minus liabilities) recorded positive net flows of €1 billion.

Other investment recorded increases of €82 billion in assets and €133 billion in liabilities. The increase in assets is mainly attributable to the MFI sector (excluding the Eurosystem) (€102 billion), which was partly offset by decreases in other investment assets by other sectors (€14 billion) and the Eurosystem (€6 billion). In a similar vein, the increase in liabilities was also largely explained by the MFI sector (excluding the Eurosystem) (€150 billion) and, to a lesser extent, by other sectors (€18 billion), which were partly offset by a decrease in the Eurosystem (€37 billion).

In the 12 months to April 2017 combined direct and portfolio investment recorded increases of €855 billion in assets and €275 billion in liabilities, compared with increases of €1,058 billion and €466 billion respectively in the 12 months to April 2016. This resulted primarily from a decrease in the direct investment activity of both euro area residents abroad and non-residents in the euro area.

According to the monetary presentation of the balance of payments, the net external assets of euro area MFIs decreased by €211 billion in the 12 months to April 2017, compared with a decrease of €73 billion in the 12 months to April 2016. This still reflects a 12-month cumulated current account surplus (€344.7 billion) whose counterpart entries are observed in net financial transactions by non-MFIs. In particular, the cumulated transactions in direct investment liabilities decreased significantly from €533 billion to €278 billion while transactions in portfolio investment liabilities reflect lower net purchases of euro area non-MFI equities (from €141 billion to €93 billion), as well as larger net sales/amortisation of euro area debt securities by non-euro area investors (from €125 billion to €180 billion).

In April 2017 the Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets decreased to €716.9 billion from €726.6 billion in the previous month (see Table 3). This decrease (€9.7 billion) is mainly explained by negative exchange rate developments (€6.3 billion) and sales of reserve assets (€4.4 billion).

Data revisions

This press release incorporates revisions to the data for January to March 2017. These revisions have not significantly altered the figures previously published.

Additional information

• Time series data: ECB’s Statistical Data Warehouse (SDW)
• Methodological information
• Monetary presentation of the balance of payments

Next press releases:

• Quarterly balance of payments and international investment position: 5 July 2017 (reference data up to the first quarter of 2017);
• Monthly balance of payments: 20 July 2017 (reference data up to May 2017).

Annexes

Table 1: Current account of the euro area

Table 2: Balance of payments of the euro area

Table 3: Reserve assets of the euro area

For media queries, please contact Rocío González, Tel.: +49 69 1344 6451.