Data from the European Central Bank showed that in December, the eurozone's current account surplus (seasonally adjusted) increased to 31.95 billion euros from 22.5 billion euros in November (revised from 24.6 billion euros). Economists had expected the surplus to fall to 20.3 billion euros. Surpluses were recorded for goods (35 billion euros) and services (16 billion euros). Deficits were recorded for secondary income (13 billion euros) and primary income (5 billion euros).
In the 12 months to December, the current account surplus was 260 billion euros (1.8% of eurozone GDP) compared with a deficit of 82 billion euros (0.6% of GDP) in the 12 months to December 2022. This development was mainly driven by a switch from a deficit (81 billion euros) to a surplus (274 billion euros) for goods, and, to a lesser extent, by a smaller deficit for secondary income (down from 172 billion euros to 160 billion euros). These developments were partly offset by reductions in the surpluses for primary income (down from 21 billion euros to 6 billion euros) and services (down from 149 billion euros to 140 billion euros).
In the financial account, in 12 months to December, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled 376 billion euros and non-residents’ net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled 422 billion euros.