Euro area monthly balance of payments: December 2024

19 February 2025

• Current account recorded €38 billion surplus in December 2024, up from €25 billion in previous month
• Current account surplus amounted to €419 billion (2.8% of euro area GDP) in 2024, up from €241 billion (1.6%) in 2023
• In financial account, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €664 billion and non-residents’ net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €811 billion in 2024

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 €38 billion in December 2024, an increase of €13 billion from the previous month (Chart 1 and Table 1). Surpluses were recorded for goods (€33 billion), services (€18 billion) and primary income (€4 billion). These were partly offset by a deficit for secondary income (€17 billion).

Table 1

Current account of the euro area

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

In 2024, the current account recorded a surplus of €419 billion (2.8% of euro area GDP), compared with a surplus of €241 billion (1.6% of euro area GDP) in 2023. This increase was mainly driven by a larger surplus for goods (up from €256 billion to €390 billion), and, to a lesser extent, by a larger surplus for services (up from €123 billion to €162 billion) and a smaller deficit for secondary income (down from €170 billion to €165 billion). The surplus for primary income remained stable (€32 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 €74 billion in non-euro area assets in 2024, following net disinvestments of €329 billion in 2023 (Chart 2 and Table 2). Non-residents disinvested €102 billion in net terms from euro area assets in 2024, following net disinvestments of €364 billion in 2023.

In portfolio investment, euro area residents’ net purchases of non-euro area equity increased to €145 billion in 2024, up from €89 billion in 2023. Over the same period, net purchases of non-euro area debt securities by euro-area residents increased to €519 billion, up from €380 billion in 2023. Non-residents’ net purchases of euro area equity increased to €350 billion in 2024, up from €158 billion in 2023. Over the same period, non-residents made net purchases of euro area debt securities amounting to €461 billion, following net purchases of €398 billion in 2023.

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 €363 billion in 2024 (following net acquisitions of €205 billion in 2023), while they recorded net disposals of liabilities of €43 billion (following net disposals of €171 billion in 2023).

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 €553 billion in 2024. This increase was mainly driven by the current and capital accounts surplus and, to a lesser extent, by euro area non-MFIs’ net inflows in portfolio investment debt and portfolio investment equity. These developments were partly offset by euro area non-MFIs’ net outflows in direct investment.

In December 2024 the Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets increased to €1,394.0 billion up from €1,391.7 billion in the previous month (Table 3). This increase was driven by positive exchange rate changes (€4.0 billion) and, to a lesser extent, by net acquisitions of assets (€2.7 billion) which were partly offset by negative price changes (€4.3 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 October and November 2024. These revisions did not significantly alter the figures previously published.

Next releases:

• Monthly balance of payments: 21 March 2025 (reference data up to January 2025)
• Quarterly balance of payments: 04 April 2025 (reference data up to the fourth quarter of 2024)

For media queries, please contact Nicos Keranis, 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.