Euro area monthly balance of payments: January 2025

21 March 2025

• Current account recorded €35 billion surplus in January 2025, down from €38 billion in previous month
• Current account surplus amounted to €408 billion (2.7% of euro area GDP) in the 12 months to January 2025, up from €280 billion (1.9%) one year earlier
• In financial account, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €677 billion and non-residents’ net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €784 billion in the 12 months to January 2025

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 €35 billion in January 2025, a decrease of €3 billion from the previous month (Chart 1 and Table 1). Surpluses were recorded for goods (€35 billion), services (€12 billion) and primary income (€ 2 billion). These were partly offset by a deficit for secondary income (€14 billion).

Table 1

Current account of the euro area

In the 12 months to January 2025, the current account surplus widened to €408 billion (2.7% of euro area GDP), up from €280 billion (1.9% of euro area GDP) one year earlier. This increase was mainly driven by larger surpluses for goods (up from €296 billion to €380 billion) and for services (up from €122 billion to €163 billion). The primary income surplus (€33 billion) and the secondary income deficit (€168 billion) remained broadly unchanged.

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 €90 billion in non-euro area assets in the 12 months to January 2025, following net disinvestments of €333 billion one year earlier (Chart 2 and Table 2). Non-residents disinvested €107 billion in net terms from euro area assets in the 12 months to January 2025, following net disinvestments of €397 billion one year earlier.

In portfolio investment, euro area residents’ net purchases of non-euro area equity increased to €134 billion and debt securities to €544 billion in the 12 months to January 2025, up from €74 billion and €406 billion, respectively, one year earlier. Non-residents’ net purchases of euro area equity increased to €334 billion and debt securities to €450 billion in the 12 months to January 2025, up from €201 billion and €419 billion, respectively, one year earlier.

Table 2

Financial account of the euro area

In other investment, euro area residents recorded net acquisitions of non-euro area assets amounting to €465 billion in the 12 months to January 2025 (up from €131 billion one year earlier), while they recorded net incurrences of liabilities of €128 billion (following net disposals of €272 billion one year earlier).

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 increased by €425 billion in the 12 months to January 2025. This increase was driven by the current and capital accounts surplus and, to a lesser extent, by euro area non-MFIs’ net inflows in portfolio investment equity and debt. These developments were partly offset by euro area non-MFIs’ net outflows in direct investment and other investment.

In January 2025 the Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets increased to €1,457.5 billion up from €1,394.0 billion in the previous month (Table 3). This increase was mainly driven by positive price changes (€65.6 billion) which were partly offset by net sales of assets (€1.5 billion) and negative exchange rate changes (€0.6 billion).

Table 3

Reserve assets of the euro area

Data revisions

This press release does not incorporate revisions to previous periods.

Next releases:

• Quarterly balance of payments: 04 April 2025 (reference data up to the fourth quarter of 2024)
• Monthly balance of payments: 16 April 2025 (reference data up to February 2025)

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.