Euro area quarterly balance of payments and international investment position: second quarter of 2023

Current account

The current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €34 billion (0.2% of euro area GDP) in the
four quarters to the second quarter of 2023, after recording a surplus of €129 billion (1.0% of GDP) a
year earlier (Table 1). This decline was mainly driven by a fall in the primary income surplus from
€76 billion to €7 billion and by reductions in the surpluses for goods (down from €74 billion to
€56 billion) and services (down from €142 billion to €128 billion). These developments were partly
offset by a decline in the deficit in secondary income (down from €163 billion to €156 billion).

The lower surplus for services was mainly due to a smaller surplus for transport services (from
€23 billion to €11 billion) and widening deficits for other business services (from €47 billion to
€54 billion) and other services (from €28 billion to €58 billion). Larger surpluses were recorded for
travel services (from €42 billion to €57 billion), telecommunication, computer and information services
(from €144 billion to €153 billion) and insurance, pension and financial services (from €8 billion to
€17 billion).