Euro area monthly balance of payments: June 2022

19 August 2022

• Current account recorded €4 billion surplus in June 2022, up from €7 billion deficit in previous month
• Current account surplus amounted to €112 billion (0.9% of euro area GDP) in 12 months to June 2022, down from €361 billion (3.1%) one year earlier
• In financial account, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €135 billion and non-residents’ net sales of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €55 billion in 12 months to June 2022

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 €4 billion in June 2022, an increase of €11 billion from the previous month (Chart 1 and Table 1). Surpluses were recorded for services (€18 billion) and primary income (€4 billion). These were partly offset by a deficit for secondary income (€17 billion). The goods balance remained close to zero (€-0.3 billion).

Table 1

Current account of the euro area

(EUR billions unless otherwise indicated; transactions; working day and seasonally adjusted data)

Data for the current account of the euro area

In the 12 months to June 2022, the current account recorded a surplus of €112 billion (0.9% of euro area GDP), compared with a surplus of €361 billion (3.1% of euro area GDP) in the 12 months to June 2021. This decline was driven by a reduction in the surplus for goods (down from €383 billion to €107 billion) and for primary income (down from €58 billion to €34 billion). This development was partly offset by a larger surplus for services (up from €80 billion to €128 billion) and a smaller deficit for secondary income (down from €161 billion to €157 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 €132 billion in non-euro area assets in the 12-month period to June 2022, following net investments of €22 billion in the 12 months to June 2021 (Chart 2 and Table 2). Non-residents disinvested €123 billion in net terms from euro area assets in the 12-month period to June 2022, following net disinvestments of €2 billion in the 12 months to June 2021.

In portfolio investment, euro area residents’ net purchases of non-euro area equity switched from €561 billion in the 12 months to June 2021 to net sales of €27 billion in the 12 months to June 2022. Over the same period, euro area residents’ net purchases of non-euro area debt securities decreased to €162 billion, down from €406 billion in the 12 months to June 2021. Non-residents’ net purchases of euro area equity decreased to €153 billion in the 12-month period to June 2022, down from €363 billion in the 12 months to June 2021. Over the same period, non-residents made net sales of euro area debt securities amounting to €208 billion, following net sales of €245 billion in the 12 months to June 2021.

Table 2

Financial account of the euro area

(EUR billions unless otherwise indicated; transactions; non-working day and non-seasonally adjusted data)

Data for the financial account of the euro area

In other investment (Table 2), euro area residents recorded net acquisitions of non-euro area assets amounting to €401 billion in the 12 months to June 2022 (following net acquisitions of €66 billion in the 12 months to June 2021), while their net incurrence of liabilities increased to €906 billion (up from €447 billion in the 12 months to June 2021).

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 decreased by €173 billion in the 12-month period to June 2022. This decrease was mainly driven by euro area non-MFIs’ net outflows in direct investment and portfolio investment debt. These developments were partly offset by the current and capital accounts surplus and by euro area non-MFIs’ net inflows in portfolio investment equity and other investment.

In June 2022 the Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets increased to €1,122.1 billion, up from €1,108.2 billion in the previous month (Table 3). This increase was driven mostly by positive exchange rate changes (€8.8 billion) and, to a lesser extent, by positive price changes (€2.8 billion) and net acquisitions of assets (€1.8 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 for the reserve assets of the euro area

Data revisions

This press release incorporates revisions to the data for April and May 2022. These revisions did not significantly alter the figures previously published.

Next releases:

• Monthly balance of payments: 20 September 2022 (reference data up to July 2022)
• Quarterly balance of payments and international investment position: 5 October 2022 (reference data up to the second quarter of 2022)

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.