Euro area monthly balance of payments: June 2019

• In June 2019 the current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €18 billion, compared with a surplus of €30 billion in May 2019.^[1]
• In the 12-month period to June 2019, the current account recorded a surplus of €318 billion (2.7% of euro area GDP), down from €391 billion (3.4% of euro area GDP) in the 12 months to June 2018.
• In the financial accounteuro area residents made net acquisitions of foreign portfolio investment securities totalling €58 billion in the 12-month period to June 2019 (decreasing from €484 billion in the 12-month period to June 2018). Non-residents’ net purchases of euro area portfolio investment securities amounted to €42 billion (down from €249 billion).

The current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €18 billion in June 2019, a decrease of €12 billion from the previous month (see Chart 1 and Table 1). Surpluses were recorded for goods (€25 billion), primary income (€4 billion) and services (€3 billion). These were partly offset by a deficit for secondary income (€14 billion).

Data for the current account of the euro area

In the 12 months to June 2019, the current account recorded a surplus of €318 billion (2.7% of euro area GDP), compared with a surplus of €391 billion (3.4% of euro area GDP) in the 12-month period to June 2018. This decline was driven by smaller surpluses for goods (down from €318 billion to €290 billion), services (down from €117 billion to €96 billion) and primary income (down from €94 billion to €91 billion), as well as by a larger deficit for secondary income (up from €138 billion to €159 billion).

In direct investment, euro area residents made net disinvestments of €316 billion in non-euro area assets in the 12-month period to June 2019, compared with net investments of €85 billion in the 12 months to June 2018 (see Chart 2 and Table 2). Non-residents also made net disinvestments in the euro area, of €246 billion, compared with net disinvestments of €98 billion in the 12-month period to June 2018.

In portfolio investment, net acquisitions of foreign debt securities by euro area residents decreased to €91 billion in the 12-month period to June 2019, from €319 billion in the 12-month period to June 2018. Over the same period, euro area residents switched from net purchases of foreign equity (€166 billion) to net sales of €33 billion. Non-residents’ net purchases of euro area equity fell to €62 billion in the 12 months to June 2019, down from €354 billion in the 12-month period to June 2018. At the same time, their net sales of euro area debt securities decreased from €105 billion to €19 billion.

Data for the financial account of the euro area

In other investment, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of foreign assets increased to €318 billion in the 12 months to June 2019 (up from €229 billion in the 12-month period to June 2018). Furthermore, their net incurrence of liabilities decreased to €81 billion from €335 billion.

The monetary presentation of the balance of payments (see Chart 3) shows that the net external assets of euro area MFIs increased by €295 billion in the 12-month period to June 2019. This increase was driven mainly by the euro area’s current and capital accounts surplus and, to a lesser extent, by non‑MFIs’ net inflows in portfolio investment equity and direct investment. This was partly offset by euro area non-MFIs’ net outflows in portfolio investment debt securities.

In June 2019 the Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets increased to €770.8 billion, up from €751.2 billion in the previous month (see Table 3). This increase of €19.6 billion was driven by positive price changes of monetary gold, which were only partly offset by net sales of assets and negative exchange rate changes.

Data for the reserve assets of the euro area

Data revisions

This press release incorporates revisions to the data for April and May 2019. These revisions did not significantly alter the figures previously published.

Next press releases:

• monthly balance of payments: 19 September 2019 (reference data up to July 2019)
• quarterly balance of payments and international investment position: 2 October 2019 (reference data up to the second quarter of 2019)

For media queries, please contact Philippe Rispal, tel.: +49 69 1344 5482.

Notes

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