Euro area current account surplus narrows to €9 billion in August
The European Central Bank said the surplus fell by €18 billion from July, while the 12-month surplus slipped to €250 billion, or 1.5% of euro area GDP.
AI illustrationThe euro area ran a current account surplus of €9 billion in August 2026, the European Central Bank said on 20 October. That was €18 billion less than in the previous month, when the surplus stood at €27 billion.
Trade in goods produced a surplus of €18 billion in August and services added €13 billion. Against that, secondary income showed a deficit of €18 billion and primary income a deficit of €4 billion.
Over the 12 months to August, the surplus totalled €250 billion, equal to 1.5% of euro area GDP. A year earlier the comparable figure was €290 billion, or 1.8%. The ECB said the decline came mainly from a smaller goods surplus, which fell from €320 billion to €290 billion, and to a lesser extent from a wider secondary income deficit, up from €179 billion to €207 billion. Bigger surpluses for services, up from €140 billion to €153 billion, and for primary income, up from €9 billion to €14 billion, partly offset these moves.
On the financial side, euro area residents made net direct investments of €424 billion abroad in the 12 months to August, compared with €211 billion a year before. Non-residents put €89 billion net into euro area direct investment, down from €122 billion.
In portfolio investment, residents' net purchases of foreign securities totalled €798 billion over the 12 months, while non-residents bought €1,105 billion of euro area securities in net terms. Net foreign buying of euro area debt securities rose to €659 billion from €412 billion a year earlier.
The Eurosystem's reserve assets reached €1,858.8 billion in August, up from €1,752.5 billion in July. The ECB attributed the gain mainly to price changes of €108.2 billion, driven by a higher price of monetary gold.
The next monthly figures, covering September, are due on 19 November 2026.