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  • PRESS RELEASE

Euro area monthly balance of payments: July 2022

20 September 2022

  • Current account recorded €20 billion deficit in July 2022, down from €4 billion surplus in previous month
  • Current account surplus amounted to €63 billion (0.5% of euro area GDP) in 12 months to July 2022, down from €370 billion (3.1%) one year earlier
  • In financial account, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €74 billion and non-residents’ net sales of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €138 billion in 12 months to July 2022

Chart 1

Euro area current account balance

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

Source: ECB.

The current account of the euro area recorded a deficit of €20 billion in July 2022, a decrease of €24 billion from the previous month (Chart 1 and Table 1). Deficits were recorded for goods (€18 billion) and secondary income (€15 billion). These were partly offset by surpluses for services (€10 billion) and primary income (€3 billion).

Table 1

Current account of the euro area

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

Source: ECB.

Note: Discrepancies between totals and their components may be due to rounding.

Data for the current account of the euro area

In the 12 months to July 2022, the current account recorded a surplus of €63 billion (0.5% of euro area GDP), compared with a surplus of €370 billion (3.1% of euro area GDP) in the 12 months to July 2021.

This decline was predominantly driven by a reduction in the surplus for goods (down from €383 billion to €60 billion) and, to a lesser extent, by a smaller surplus for primary income (down from €65 billion to €31 billion). This development was partly offset by a larger surplus for services (up from €83 billion to €132 billion) and a smaller deficit for secondary income (down from €161 billion to €160 billion).

Chart 2

Selected items of the euro area financial account

(EUR billions; 12-month cumulated data)

Source: ECB.

Notes: For assets, a positive (negative) number indicates net purchases (sales) of non-euro area instruments by euro area investors. For liabilities, a positive (negative) number indicates net sales (purchases) of euro area instruments by non-euro area investors.

In direct investment, euro area residents made net investments of €114 billion in non-euro area assets in the 12-month period to July 2022, following net investments of €7 billion in the 12 months to July 2021 (Chart 2 and Table 2). Non-residents disinvested €100 billion in net terms from euro area assets in the 12-month period to July 2022, following net disinvestments of €26 billion in the 12 months to July 2021.

In portfolio investment, euro area residents switched from net purchases of non-euro area equity of €554 billion in the 12 months to July 2021 to net sales of €55 billion in the 12 months to July 2022. Over the same period, euro area residents’ net purchases of non-euro area debt securities decreased to €129 billion, down from €428 billion in the 12 months to July 2021. Non-residents’ net purchases of euro area equity decreased to €112 billion in the 12-month period to July 2022, down from €344 billion in the 12 months to July 2021. Over the same period, non-residents made net sales of euro area debt securities amounting to €249 billion, following net sales of €241 billion in the 12 months to July 2021.

Table 2

Financial account of the euro area

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

Source: ECB.

Notes: Decreases in assets and liabilities are shown with a minus sign. Net financial derivatives are reported under assets. “MFIs” stands for monetary financial institutions. Discrepancies between totals and their components may be due to rounding.

Data for the financial account of the euro area

In other investment, euro area residents recorded net acquisitions of non-euro area assets amounting to €377 billion in the 12 months to July 2022 (following net acquisitions of €45 billion in the 12 months to July 2021), while their net incurrence of liabilities increased to €858 billion (up from €453 billion in the 12 months to July 2021).

Chart 3

Monetary presentation of the balance of payments

(EUR billions; 12-month cumulated data)

Source: ECB.

Notes: “MFI net external assets (enhanced)” incorporates an adjustment to the MFI net external assets (as reported in the consolidated MFI balance sheet items statistics) based on information on MFI long-term liabilities held by non-residents, available in b.o.p. statistics. B.o.p. transactions refer only to transactions of non-MFI residents of the euro area. Financial transactions are shown as liabilities net of assets. “Other” includes financial derivatives and statistical discrepancies.

The monetary presentation of the balance of payments (Chart 3) shows that the net external assets (enhanced) of euro area MFIs decreased by €168 billion in the 12-month period to July 2022. This decrease was mainly driven by euro area non-MFIs’ net outflows in direct investment, portfolio investment debt and, to a lesser extent, other investment. These developments were partly offset by the current and capital accounts surplus and by euro area non-MFIs’ net inflows in portfolio investment equity.

In July 2022 the Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets increased to €1,129.1 billion, up from €1,122.1 billion in the previous month (Table 3). This increase was driven mostly by positive exchange rate changes (€9.4 billion) and, to a lesser extent, by net acquisitions of assets (€1.6 billion) that were partially offset by negative price changes (€3.9 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)

Source: ECB.

Notes: “Other reserve assets” comprises currency and deposits, securities, financial derivatives (net) and other claims. Discrepancies between totals and their components may be due to rounding.

Data for the reserve assets of the euro area

Data revisions

This press release does not incorporate revisions to the data for previous periods.

Next releases:

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