Current account
The current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €307 billion (2.1% of euro area GDP) in the four quarters to the first quarter of 2024, after recording a deficit of €33 billion (0.2% of GDP) a year earlier (Table 1). This development was mainly driven by a shift from a deficit (€43 billion) to a surplus (€305 billion) for goods and, to a lesser extent, by a decrease in the deficit for secondary income from €169 billion to €164 billion. These developments were partly offset by reductions in the surpluses for services (from €136 billion to €128 billion) and for primary income (from €43 billion to €37 billion).
Newly released estimates on goods trade broken down by product group show that, in the four quarters to the first quarter of 2024, the shift in the goods balance from a deficit to a surplus was due mainly to a smaller deficit in energy products (from €530 billion to €299 billion). In addition, the surplus for machinery and manufactured products increased from €207 billion to €300 billion, while the deficit for other products declined from €39 billion to €3 billion.
The lower surplus for services was mainly due to a change from a surplus of €22 billion to a deficit of €1 billion for transport and widening deficits for other business services (from €52 billion to €63 billion) as well as for other services (from €50 billion to €62 billion). This was partly offset by larger surpluses for telecommunication, computer and information (from €151 billion to €172 billion) and for travel (from €47 billion to €58 billion).
The decrease in the primary income surplus was mainly due to a larger deficit in portfolio equity (from €122 billion to €160 billion), partly offset by a larger surplus in direct investment (from €69 billion to €94 billion).
