Euro area monthly balance of payments: January 2021

Current account recorded €30 billion surplus in January 2021, down from €37 billion in previous month
Current account surplus amounted to €263 billion (2.3% of euro area GDP) in 12 months to January 2021, slightly up from €262 billion (2.2%) one year earlier
In financial account, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of foreign portfolio investment securities totalled €681 billion and non-residents’ net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €126 billion in 12 months to January 2021

The current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €30 billion in January 2021, decreasing by €7 billion from the previous month (see Chart 1 and Table 1). Surpluses were recorded for goods (€39 billion) and services (€12 billion). These were partly offset by deficits for secondary income (€17 billion) and primary income (€4 billion).

Dataforthecurrentaccountoftheeuroarea

In the 12 months to January 2021, the current account recorded a surplus of €263 billion (2.3% of euro area GDP), compared with a surplus of €262 billion (2.2% of euro area GDP) in the 12 months to January 2020. The surplus for goods and for services increased (up from €330 billion to €353 billion and from €48 billion to €49 billion, respectively). The surplus for primary income (from €40 billion to €17 billion) declined and the deficit for secondary income (up from €156 billion to €157 billion) increased slightly.

In direct investment, euro area residents made net investments of €83 billion in non-euro area assets in the 12-month period to January 2021, compared with net investments of €7 billion in the 12 months to January 2020 (see Chart 2 and Table 2). Non-residents’ net investments in euro area assets increased to €209 billion in the 12-month period to January 2021, up from €86 billion in the 12 months to January 2020.

In portfolio investment, net purchases of foreign debt securities by euro area residents increased to €454 billion in the 12-month period to January 2021, following net purchases of €369 billion in the 12 months to January 2020. Over the same period, euro area residents made net purchases of foreign equity of €227 billion, after recording net purchases of €90 billion in the 12 months to January 2020. Non-residents made net purchases of euro area debt securities amounting to €4 billion in the 12 months to January 2021, following net purchases of €241 billion in the 12 months to January 2020. Over the same period, non-residents’ net purchases of euro area equity decreased to €121 billion from €295 billion in the 12 months to January 2020.

Dataforthefinancialaccountoftheeuroarea

In other investment, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of foreign assets decreased to €170 billion in the 12 months to January 2021 (following net acquisitions of €382 billion in the 12 months to January 2020), while their net incurrence of liabilities increased to €303 billion from €42 billion.

The monetary presentation of the balance of payments (see Chart 3) shows that the net external assets (enhanced) of euro area MFIs increased by €3 billion in the 12-month period to January 2021. This increase was driven by the current and capital accounts surplus and, to a lesser extent, euro area non-MFIs’ net inflows in direct investment and in other flows. These developments were partly offset by euro area non-MFIs’ net outflows in portfolio investment equity and debt securities andin other investment.

In January 2021 the Eurosystem’s stock of reserve assets slightly increased to €880.2 billion, up from €879.8 billion in the previous month (see Table 3). This increase was driven by positive exchange rate changes (€3.0 billion), which were only partly offset by negative price changes (€1.6 billion) and net sales of assets (€0.9 billion).