According to the report from the European Central Bank, the current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €13 billion in August 2021, a decrease of €10 billion from the previous month. Surpluses were recorded for goods (€17 billion) and primary income (€5 billion). These were partly offset by deficits for secondary income (€8 billion) and services (€1 billion).
In the 12 months to August 2021, the current account recorded a surplus of €328 billion (2.8% of euro area GDP), compared with a surplus of €176 billion (1.5% of euro area GDP) in the 12 months to August 2020. This increase was mainly driven by a switch in the services balance from a deficit of €32 billion to a surplus of €84 billion and also by larger surpluses for goods (up from €315 billion to €365 billion) and primary income (up from €42 billion to €49 billion). These developments were partly offset by a larger deficit for secondary income (up from €149 billion to €170 billion).
In financial account, euro area residents’ net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €942 billion and non-residents’ net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities totalled €129 billion in 12 months to August 2021