The European Central Bank (ECB) announced on Tuesday that the euro area's current account surplus saw an uptick in March, driven by improvements in primary income.
In March, the current account balance recorded a surplus of EUR 36 billion, rising from EUR 29 billion in February. By comparison, the surplus in March of the previous year stood at EUR 13 billion.
The trade surplus in goods slightly declined to EUR 33 billion from February’s EUR 34 billion. Similarly, the services surplus reduced to EUR 5 billion from February's EUR 7 billion.
Primary income showed a significant turnaround, registering a surplus of EUR 9 billion, as opposed to a deficit of EUR 3 billion in February. The secondary income deficit, however, expanded to EUR 11 billion from February’s EUR 9 billion.
Over the twelve months leading up to March, the cumulative current account surplus amounted to EUR 310 billion, representing 2.1 percent of the euro area GDP. This marks a substantial shift from the previous year’s deficit of EUR 76 billion or 0.6 percent of GDP.
Within the financial account, euro area residents' net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities reached EUR 484 billion. Conversely, non-residents' net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities stood at EUR 539 billion for the twelve-month period ending in March, according to the ECB.