Euro area monthly balance of payments: March 2026

21 May 2026

• Current account recorded €15 billion surplus in March 2026, down from €26 billion in previous month
• Current account surplus amounted to €275 billion (1.7% of euro area GDP) in the 12 months to March 2026, down from €368 billion (2.4%) one year earlier
• In financial account, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €779 billion and non-residents’ net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €981 billion in the 12 months to March 2026

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 €15 billion in March 2026, a decrease of €11 billion from the previous month (Chart 1 and Table 1). Surpluses were recorded for goods (€14 billion), services (€14 billion) and primary income (€2 billion). These were partly offset by a deficit for secondary income (€16 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 March 2026, the current account recorded a surplus of €275 billion (1.7% of euro area GDP), compared with a surplus of €368 billion (2.4% of euro area GDP) one year earlier. This decrease was explained by all components, including a switch from a surplus (€17 billion) to a deficit (€19 billion) for primary income and, to a lesser extent, by reductions in the surpluses for goods (down from €355 billion to €329 billion) and for services (down from €173 billion to €158 billion), and a larger deficit for secondary income (up from €179 billion to €192 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 €272 billion in non-euro area assets in the 12 months to March 2026, following net investments of €163 billion one year earlier (Chart 2 and Table 2). Non-residents invested €42 billion in net terms in euro area assets in the 12 months to March 2026, following net disinvestments of €27 billion one year earlier.

In portfolio investment, euro area residents’ net purchases of non-euro area equity decreased to €196 billion in the 12 months to March 2026, down from €234 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, net purchases of non-euro area debt securities by euro-area residents decreased to €583 billion, down from €588 billion one year earlier. Non-residents’ net purchases of euro area equity decreased to €436 billion in the 12 months to March 2026, down from €514 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, non-residents made net purchases of euro area debt securities amounting to €545 billion, up from €357 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 €595 billion in the 12 months to March 2026 (following net acquisitions of €508 billion one year earlier), while their net incurrence of liabilities increased to €361 billion (up from €218 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 €360 billion in the 12 months to March 2026. This increase was mostly driven by the current and capital accounts surplus and euro area non-MFIs’ net inflows in portfolio investment equity, portfolio investment debt and other investment. These developments were partly offset by euro area non-MFIs’ net outflows in direct investment.

In March 2026 the Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets decreased to €1,908.1 billion down from €2,045.8 billion in the previous month (Table 3). This decrease was mainly driven by negative price changes (€149.0 billion), largely explained by a decline in the price of gold, and partly offset by positive exchange rate changes (€8.7 billion) and net acquisitions of assets (€2.6 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 incorporates revisions to the data for January 2026 and February 2026. These revisions did not significantly alter the figures previously published.

Next releases:

• Monthly balance of payments: 18 June 2026 (reference data up to April 2026)
• Quarterly balance of payments: 03 July 2026 (reference data up to the first quarter of 2026)

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.
• March 2026 goods data for the Netherlands were unavailable; February values were carried forward into the euro area aggregate. See: https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/cbs-service-disruption