Euro area balance of payments

Monthly developments in October 2003 and revisions for September 2003

Seasonally adjusted current account in surplus

In October 2003, the seasonally adjusted current account of the euro area registered a surplus of EUR 5.6 billion (corresponding to a surplus of EUR 8.1 billion in non-seasonally adjusted terms). This reflected surpluses in both goods (EUR 11.5 billion) and services (EUR 2.3 billion) that were partly offset by deficits in income (EUR 6.6 billion) and current transfers (EUR 1.6 billion).

Compared with September 2003, the seasonally adjusted current account surplus fell by EUR 2.4 billion in October 2003. This was the result of an increase in the income deficit (by EUR 4.3 billion) and a decrease in the goods surplus (by EUR 2.2 billion), which were partly compensated for by a rise in the services surplus (by EUR 0.5 billion) and a decrease in the current transfers deficit (by EUR 3.6 billion).

Euro area balance of payments: 12-month cumulated flows (Euro 12; EUR billions)
––– current account balance       ------ net direct investment       ––  net portfolio investment

Net inflows in portfolio investment

In the financial account, combined direct and portfolio investment showed net inflows of EUR 18.2 billion in October 2003.

This reflected net inflows for all instruments in the portfolio investment account, namely equity (EUR 13.1 billion), bonds and notes (EUR 7.3 billion) and money market instruments (EUR 6.1 billion). Non-residents purchased securities issued by euro area residents for an amount of EUR 61.1 billion.

Direct investment registered net outflows of EUR 8.3 billion owing to euro area direct investment abroad (EUR 11.2 billion), which was only partly offset by foreign direct investment in the euro area (EUR 2.9 billion).

Other investment recorded net outflows of EUR 22.4 billion. This was mostly due to a net increase of short-term assets held abroad by resident monetary financial institutions (excluding the Eurosystem). The other sectors also increased their net assets held abroad.

Financial derivatives registered net inflows of EUR 1.4 billion, while reserve assets decreased by EUR 0.2 billion (excluding valuation effects). The stock of the Eurosystem's reserve assets stood at EUR 332.4 billion at the end of October 2003 ( Template on international reserves and foreign currency liquidity ).

Data revisions

In addition to describing developments in the euro area b.o.p. in October 2003, this press release incorporates revisions for September 2003. The revisions had a minor impact on the net figures. Concerning direct investment abroad, net outflows were revised downwards by EUR 2.8 billion to EUR 9.2 billion.

Additional information on the euro area b.o.p.

The statistics up to October 2003 will also be published in the January 2004 issue of the ECB Monthly Bulletin. A detailed methodological note is available on the ECB's website. The next press release, for the November 2003 euro area b.o.p., will be published on 30 January 2004.

Annexes

Table 1: Euro area current account - seasonally adjusted data
Table 2: Monthly balance of payments of the euro area - non-seasonally adjusted data

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