Data from the European Central Bank showed that in October, the eurozone's current account surplus (seasonally adjusted) rose to 34.0 billion euros from 31.23 billion euros in September (revised from 31.0 billion euros). Economists had expected the surplus to fall to 27.0 billion euros. Surpluses were recorded for goods (30 billion euros) and services (20 billion euros). Deficits were recorded for secondary income (14 billion euros) and primary income (2 billion euros).
In the 12 months to October, the current account surplus was 218 billion euros (1.5% of eurozone GDP) compared with a deficit of 56 billion euros (0.4% of GDP) in the 12 months to October 2022. This development was mainly driven by a switch from a deficit (76 billion euros) to a surplus for goods (237 billion euros), and, to a lesser extent, by a smaller deficit for secondary income (down from 174 billion euros to 157 billion euros). These developments were partly offset by reductions in the surpluses for primary income (down from 47 billion euros to 5 billion euros) and services (down from 147 billion euros to 133 billion euros).
In the financial account, in 12 months to October, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled 398 billion euros and non-residents’ net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled 429 billion euros.