Data from the European Central Bank showed that in November, the eurozone's current account surplus (seasonally adjusted) fell to 24.6 billion euros from 32.3 billion euros in October (revised from 34.0 billion euros). Economists had expected the surplus to fall to 30.9 billion euros. Surpluses were recorded for goods (33 billion euros) and services (21 billion euros). Deficits were recorded for secondary income (13 billion euros) and primary income (16 billion euros).
In the 12 months to November, the current account surplus was 231 billion euros (1.6% of eurozone GDP) compared with a deficit of 68 billion euros (0.5% of GDP) in the 12 months to November 2022. This development was mainly driven by a switch from a deficit (82 billion euros) to a surplus for goods (244 billion euros), and, to a lesser extent, by a smaller deficit for secondary income (down from 173 billion euros to 160 billion euros). These developments were partly offset by reductions in the surpluses for primary income (down from 39 billion euros to 9 billion euros) and services (down from 147 billion euros to 138 billion euros).
In the financial account, in 12 months to November, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled 457 billion euros and non-residents’ net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled 409 billion euros.