Euro area monthly balance of payments: April 2026

18 June 2026

• Current account recorded €16 billion surplus in April 2026, up from €15 billion in previous month
• Current account surplus amounted to €269 billion (1.7% of euro area GDP) in the 12 months to April 2026, down from €351 billion (2.3%) one year earlier
• In financial account, euro area residents' net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €794 billion and non-residents' net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €1,040 billion in the 12 months to April 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 €16 billion in April 2026, an increase of €1 billion from the previous month (Chart 1 and Table 1). Surpluses were recorded for goods (€17 billion) and services (€15 billion). These were partly offset by deficits for secondary income (€16 billion) and primary income (€1 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 April 2026, the current account recorded a surplus of €269 billion (1.7% of euro area GDP), compared with a surplus of €351 billion (2.3% of euro area GDP) one year earlier. This decrease was explained by all components, including a reduction in the surplus for goods (down from €354 billion to €317 billion), a switch from a surplus (€12 billion) to a deficit (€19 billion) for primary income, a larger deficit for secondary income (up from €181 billion to €192 billion), and a reduction in the surplus for services (down from €166 billion to €162 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 €280 billion in non-euro area assets in the 12 months to April 2026, increasing from net investments of €150 billion one year earlier (Chart 2 and Table 2). Non-residents invested €8 billion in net terms in euro area assets in the 12 months to April 2026, declining from net investments of €43 billion one year earlier.

In portfolio investment, euro area residents' net purchases of non-euro area equity decreased to €218 billion in the 12 months to April 2026, down from €227 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, net purchases of non-euro area debt securities by euro-area residents decreased to €576 billion, down from €588 billion one year earlier. Non-residents' net purchases of euro area equity increased to €477 billion in the 12 months to April 2026, up from €471 billion one year earlier. Over the same period, non-residents made net purchases of euro area debt securities amounting to €563 billion, up from €328 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 €618 billion in the 12 months to April 2026 (following net acquisitions of €558 billion one year earlier), while their net incurrence of liabilities increased to €354 billion (up from €269 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 €228 billion in the 12 months to April 2026. This increase was mainly driven by the current and capital accounts surplus and euro area non-MFIs' net inflows in portfolio investment equity. These developments were partly offset by euro area non-MFIs' net outflows in direct investment.

In April 2026, the Eurosystem's stock of reserve assets decreased to €1,888.0 billion, down from €1,908.1 billion in the previous month (Table 3). This decrease was mainly driven by negative price changes (€12.0 billion), explained by a decline in the price of gold, and, to a lesser extent, by negative exchange rate changes (€5.0 billion) and net sales of assets (€3.0 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 does not incorporate revisions to previous periods.

Next releases:

• Quarterly balance of payments: 03 July 2026 (reference data up to the first quarter of 2026)
• Monthly balance of payments: 17 July 2026 (reference data up to May 2026)

For media queries, please contact Benoit 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.