Press Release - Euro area monthly balance of payments (January 2017) - 22 March 2017
In January 2017 the current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €24.1 billion.[1] - In the financial account, combined direct and portfolio investment recorded net acquisitions of assets of €153 billion and net incurrences of liabilities of €120 billion.
Current account
The current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €24.1 billion in January 2017 (see Table 1). This reflected surpluses for goods (€24.1 billion), primary income (€12.1 billion) and services (€3.5 billion), which were partly offset by a deficit for secondary income (€15.5 billion).
The 12-month cumulated current account for the period ending in January 2017 recorded a surplus of €357.9 billion (3.3% of euro area GDP), compared with one of €321.6 billion (3.1% of euro area GDP) for the 12 months to January 2016 (see Table 1 and Chart 1). This was due to increases in the surpluses for goods (from €346.8 billion to €366.3 billion), primary income (from €42.5 billion to €59.3 billion) and services (from €58.6 billion to €68.5 billion). These were partly offset by an increase in the deficit for secondary income (from €126.3 billion to €136.3 billion).
Financial account
In January 2017 combined direct and portfolio investment recorded net acquisitions of assets of €153 billion and net incurrences of liabilities of €120 billion (see Table 2).
Euro area residents recorded net acquisitions of €109 billion of direct investment assets as a result of net acquisitions of both equity (€103 billion) and debt instruments (€6 billion). Direct investment liabilities increased by €92 billion as a result of net acquisitions of euro area equity (€90 billion) and debt instruments (€3 billion) by non-euro area residents.
As regards portfolio investment assets, euro area residents made net acquisitions of foreign securities amounting to €44 billion. This resulted from net purchases of long-term debt securities (€25 billion) and equity (€24 billion), which were partly offset by net sales of short-term debt securities (€5 billion). Portfolio investment liabilities recorded net incurrences of €27 billion as a result of net acquisitions of euro area equity (€20 billion) and short-term debt securities (€22 billion) by non-euro area residents. These were partly offset by net sales/amortisations of euro area long-term debt securities (€15 billion) by non‑euro area residents.
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