Euro area monthly balance of payments January 2024

The current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €39 billion in January 2024, an increase of €7 billion from the previous month (Chart 1 and Table 1). Surpluses were recorded for goods (€47 billion) and services (€ 5 billion), while deficits were recorded for secondary income (€9 billion) and primary income (€3 billion).

In the 12 months to January 2024, the current account recorded a surplus of €294 billion (2.0% of euro area GDP), compared with a deficit of €91 billion (0.7% of euro area GDP) one year earlier. This development was mainly driven by a switch from a deficit (€84 billion) to a surplus (€317 billion) for goods, and, to a lesser extent, by a smaller deficit for secondary income (down from €168 billion to €159 billion). These developments were partly offset by reductions in the surpluses for primary income (down from €18 billion to €1 billion) and services (down from €144 billion to €135 billion).