The 12-month cumulated current account for the period ending in May 2016 recorded a surplus of €347.1 billion (3.3% of euro area GDP), compared with one of €289.7 billion (2.8% of euro area GDP) for the 12 months to May 2015 .. - ECB

Press Release - 20 July 2016   Euro area monthly balance of payments (May 2016)

In May 2016 the current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €30.8 billion.[1]

In the financial account, combined direct and portfolio investment recorded increases of €89 billion in assets and €42 billion in liabilities.

Current account

The current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €30.8 billion in May 2016 (see Table 1). This reflected surpluses for goods (€30.6 billion), services (€5.9 billion) and primary income (€3.2 billion), which were partly offset by a deficit in secondary income (€8.9 billion).

The 12-month cumulated current account for the period ending in May 2016 recorded a surplus of €347.1 billion (3.3% of euro area GDP), compared with one of €289.7 billion (2.8% of euro area GDP) for the 12 months to May 2015 (see Table 1 and Chart 1). This development was mostly due to an increase in the surplus for goods (from €294.7 billion to €365.0 billion) and, to a lesser extent, to a decrease in the deficit forsecondary income (from €137.9 billion to €123.3 billion). These were partly offset by decreases in the surpluses for both services (from €66.8 billion to €61.5 billion) andprimary income (from €66.1 billion to €43.8 billion).

Financial account

In May 2016 combined direct and portfolio investment recorded increases of €89 billion in assets and of €42 billion in liabilities (see Table 2).

Euro area residents recorded increases of €58 billion in direct investment assets and €21 billion in direct investment liabilities. Both were due to of increases in equity (€30 billion in assets and €11 billion in liabilities) and in debt instruments (€28 billion in assets and €10 billion in liabilities).

As regards portfolio investment assets, euro area residents made net acquisitions of foreign securities amounting to €31 billion. This resulted from net acquisitions oflong-term debt securities (€29 billion) and equity (€8 billion), which were partly offset by net sales/amortisations of short-term debt securities (€7 billion). Furthermore,portfolio investment liabilities increased by €21 billion as a result of the net acquisition of long-term and short-term debt securities by non-euro area residents (€13 billion and €1 billion respectively), as well as of equity issued by euro area residents (€7 billion).

The euro area net financial derivatives account (assets minus liabilities) recorded negative net flows of €2 billion.

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