Euro area quarterly balance of payments and international investment position: first quarter of 2025

3 July 2025

• Current account surplus at €366 billion (2.4% of euro area GDP) in four quarters to first quarter of 2025, after a €319 billion surplus (2.2% of GDP) a year earlier
• Geographical counterparts: largest bilateral current account surplus vis-à-vis United Kingdom (€196 billion) and largest deficit vis-à-vis China (€123 billion)
• International investment position showed net assets of €1.61 trillion (10.5% of euro area GDP) at end of first quarter of 2025

Current account

The current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €366 billion (2.4% of euro area GDP) in the four quarters to the first quarter of 2025, following a €319 billion surplus (2.2% of GDP) a year earlier (Table 1). This increase was driven by larger surpluses for goods (from €309 billion to €374 billion) and services (from €139 billion to €161 billion). These developments were partly offset by a lower surplus for primary income (from €37 billion to €10 billion) and a widening deficit for secondary income (from €166 billion to €179 billion).

Estimates on goods trade broken down by product group show that in the four quarters to the first quarter of 2025, the increase in the goods surplus was mainly due to an increase in the surplus for chemical products (from 245 billion to €312 billion) and a reduction in the deficit for energy products (from €285 billion to €257 billion).

The larger surplus for services in the four quarters to the first quarter of 2025 was mainly due to a widening surplus for telecommunication, computer and information services (from €179 billion to €214 billion) and a lower deficit for other business services (from €61 billion to €47 billion). These developments were partly offset by a larger deficit for charges for the use of intellectual property (from €99 billion to €131 billion).

The decrease in the primary income surplus in the four quarters to the first quarter of 2025 was mainly due to smaller surplus in direct investment (from €101 billion to €53 billion) and a larger deficit in portfolio equity (from €172 billion to €200 billion). These developments were partly offset by a larger surplus in portfolio debt (from €58 billion to €86 billion) and other primary income (from €4 billion to €19 billion).

Table 1

Current account of the euro area

(EUR billions, unless otherwise indicated; transactions during the period; non-working day and non-seasonally adjusted)

Data on the geographical counterparts of the euro area current account (Chart 1) show that in the four quarters to the first quarter of 2025, the euro area recorded its largest bilateral surpluses vis-à-vis the United Kingdom (€196 billion, down from €200 billion a year earlier) and Switzerland (€57 billion, down from €78 billion). The euro area also recorded surpluses vis-à-vis other emerging countries (€146 billion, down from €150 billion a year earlier), other advanced countries (€115 billion, up from €89 billion) and offshore centres (€68 billion, up from €54 billion). The largest bilateral deficit was recorded vis-à-vis China (€123 billion, up from €88 billion a year earlier) and a deficit was also recorded vis-à-vis the residual group of other countries (€110 billion, down from €124 billion).

The most significant changes in the geographical counterparts of the current account components in the four quarters to the first quarter of 2025 relative to the previous year were as follows: in goods, the surplus vis-à-vis the United States increased from €184 billion to €253 billion, while the deficit vis-à-vis China widened from €119 billion to €160 billion. In services, the deficit vis-à-vis the United States increased from €127 billion to €172 billion, while the balance vis-à-vis offshore centres shifted from a deficit (€4 billion) to a surplus (€15 billion). In primary income, the surplus vis-à-vis the EU Member States and EU institutions outside the euro area increased from €17 billion to €41 billion, while in secondary income the deficit vis-à-vis this group increased moderately from €74 billion to €79 billion.

Chart 1

Geographical breakdown of the euro area current account balance

(four-quarter moving sums in EUR billions; non-seasonally adjusted)

International investment position

At the end of the first quarter of 2025, the international investment position of the euro area recorded net assets of €1.61 trillion vis-à-vis the rest of the world (10.5% of euro area GDP), down from €1.78 trillion in the previous quarter (Chart 2 and Table 2).

Chart 2

Net international investment position of the euro area

(net amounts outstanding at the end of the period as a percentage of four-quarter moving sums of GDP)

The €170 billion decrease in net assets was mainly driven by larger net liabilities in portfolio equity (up from €3.27 trillion to €3.68 trillion). This development was partly offset by increased reserve assets (up from €1.39 trillion to €1.51 trillion) and larger net assets in portfolio debt (up from €1.44 trillion to €1.54 trillion).

Table 2

International investment position of the euro area

(EUR billions, unless otherwise indicated; amounts outstanding at the end of the period, flows during the period; non-working day and non-seasonally adjusted)

The developments in the euro area’s net international investment position in the first quarter of 2025 were driven mainly by negative exchange rate (€183 billion) and price changes (€105 billion), which were partly offset by positive other volume changes (€63 billion) and transactions (€55 billion) (Table 2 and Chart 3).

At the end of the first quarter of 2025, direct investment assets of special purpose entities (SPEs) amounted to €3.71 trillion (29% of total euro area direct investment assets), slightly up from €3.70 trillion at the end of the previous quarter (Table 2). Over the same period, direct investment liabilities of SPEs increased from €3.15 trillion to €3.17 trillion (32% of total direct investment liabilities).

Gross external debt of the euro area amounted to €16.97 trillion (111% of euro area GDP) at the end of the first quarter of 2025, up by €240 billion compared with the previous quarter.

Chart 3

Changes in the net international investment position of the euro area

(EUR billions; flows during the period; non-working day and non-seasonally adjusted)

Publication of new breakdowns of portfolio investment debt securities positions  

This statistical release introduces, for the first time, additional breakdowns of portfolio investment debt securities positions. The dimensions covered (for assets, unless specified otherwise) include: (1) nominal valuation (assets and gross external debt indicators); (2) currencies (e.g. pound sterling, Swiss franc); (3) issuer country or entity (e.g. Cayman Islands or OPEC); (4) resident and counterpart issuer sectors (e.g. insurance corporations); (5) original and residual maturities across six brackets; (6) risk type using ratings (assets and liabilities); and (7) securities type (green bonds and other sustainable debt securities). Read more about the methodology in the following publication: The more the merrier: enhancing traditional cross-border portfolio investment statistics using security-by-security information.

Data revisions

This statistical release incorporates revisions to the data for the reference periods between the first quarter of 2021 and the fourth quarter of 2024. The revisions reflect revised national contributions to the euro area aggregates because of the incorporation of newly available information.

Next releases

• Monthly balance of payments: 18 July 2025 (reference data up to May 2025)
• Quarterly balance of payments and international investment position: 7 October 2025 (reference data up to the second quarter of 2025)

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Notes

• Data are neither seasonally nor working day-adjusted. Ratios to GDP (including in the charts) refer to four-quarter sums of non-seasonally and non-working day-adjusted GDP figures.
• Hyperlinks in this press release lead to data that may change with subsequent releases as a result of revisions.