Euro area monthly balance of payments: October 2025

19 December 2025

• Current account recorded €26 billion surplus in October 2025, up from €24 billion in previous month
• Current account surplus amounted to €313 billion (2.0% of euro area GDP) in the 12 months to October 2025, down from €419 billion (2.8%) one year earlier
• In financial account, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €829 billion and non-residents’ net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €780 billion in the 12 months to October 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 €26 billion in October 2025, an increase of €2 billion from the previous month (Chart 1 and Table 1). Surpluses were recorded for goods (€31 billion) and services (€13 billion). Deficits were recorded for secondary income (€16 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)

In the 12 months to October 2025, the current account recorded a surplus of €313 billion (2.0% of euro area GDP), compared with a surplus of €419 billion (2.8% of euro area GDP) one year earlier. This decrease was mainly driven by a switch from a surplus (€50 billion) to a deficit (€21 billion) for primary income, but also by a reduction in the surplus for services (down from €175 billion to €152 billion) and a larger deficit for secondary income (up from €166 billion to €188 billion). These developments were partly offset by larger surplus for goods (up from €360 billion to €370 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 €162 billion in non-euro area assets in the 12 months to October 2025, following net disinvestments of €118 billion one year earlier (Chart 2 and Table 2). Non-residents invested €74 billion in net terms in euro area assets in the 12 months to October 2025, following net disinvestments of €370 billion one year earlier.

In portfolio investment, euro area residents’ net purchases of non-euro area equity amounted to €160 billion in the 12 months to October 2025, down from €218 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, net purchases of non-euro area debt securities by euro-area residents increased to €669 billion, up from €477 billion one year earlier. Non-residents’ net purchases of euro area equity increased to €431 billion in the 12 months to October 2025, up from €388 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, non-residents made net purchases of euro area debt securities amounting to €348 billion, declining from €417 billion one year earlier.

Table 2

Financial account of the euro area

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

In other investment, euro area residents recorded net acquisitions of non-euro area assets amounting to €562 billion in the 12 months to October 2025 (up from €342 billion one year earlier), while their net incurrence of liabilities was €443 billion (following net disposals of €35 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 €230 billion in the 12 months to October 2025. This increase was driven by the current and capital accounts surplus and euro area non-MFIs’ net inflows in portfolio investment equity and other investment. These developments were partly offset by euro area non-MFIs’ net outflows in other flows, portfolio investment debt and direct investment.

In October 2025, the Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets increased to €1,709.8 billion up from €1,622.2 billion in the previous month (Table 3). This increase was mostly driven by positive price changes (€82.8 billion), due to an increase in the price of gold, and, to a lesser extent, by positive exchange rate changes (€4.0 billion) and net acquisitions of assets (€0.8 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 revisions

This press release includes revisions to the seasonally and working-day adjusted current account and its components from January 2013 onwards owing to the incorporation of newly estimated seasonal and working-day factors. These revisions did not significantly alter the figures previously published.

Next releases:

• Quarterly balance of payments: 13 January 2026 (reference data up to the third quarter of 2025)
• Monthly balance of payments: 20 January 2026 (reference data up to November 2025)

For media queries, please contact Benoît Deeg, tel.: +49 172 1683704.

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.