Data extracted in July 2026

Planned article update: 2 October 2026

Balance of payments statistics - quarterly data

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Data extracted in July 2026

Planned article update: 2 October 2026

Highlights

EU current account recorded a surplus of €81.9 billion in Q1 2026.

In Q1 2026, the EU goods account surplus reached €61.2 billion.

Line chart showing balances of EU current account main items as share of GDP in percentages. Five lines represent current account, goods, services, primary income and secondary income from the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2026. For more details please use the link to the source dataset code below the image.
Source: (bop_gdp6_q)

This article presents quarterly statistics on balance of payments in the EU, the euro area and the EU countries. Balance of payments, which is a summary of the transactions of a given economy with the rest of the world, comprises the current account, which covers cross-border transactions in goods, services, primary income and secondary income, the capital account, which covers cross-border capital transfers, as well as the financial account, which deals with transactions involving financial claims on, or liabilities to, the rest of the world, including cross-border direct investment and purchases and sales of equities, debt securities and financial derivatives.

Current account

The EU non-seasonally adjusted external current account recorded a surplus of €81.9 billion (+1.8% of GDP) in Q1 2026, compared with the current account balance of €72.1 billion (+1.6% of GDP) in Q1 2025, according to the estimates released by Eurostat.

Line chart showing balances of EU current account main items as share of GDP in percentages. Five lines represent current account, goods, services, primary income and secondary income from the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2026. For more details please use the link to the source dataset code below the image.
Figure 1: Balances of EU current account main items as share of GDP, Q1 2026
Source: Eurostat (bop_gdp6_q)

In Q1 2026 compared with Q1 2025, based on non-seasonally adjusted data, the surplus of the goods account decreased (+€61.2 billion compared with +€109.4 billion), while the surplus of the services account increased (+€26.2 billion compared with +€15.1 billion). The primary income account turned from a deficit to a surplus (+€22.4 billion compared with -€25.9 billion), while the deficit of the secondary income account increased (-€27.8 billion compared with -€26.5 billion). In the capital account, the EU recorded a surplus of +€0.5 billion, compared with a surplus of +€0.3 billion in Q1 2025.

Looking at values of credit and debit transactions by components of the current account, it can be observed that both credit and debit transactions for goods decreased, whereas credit and debit transactions for services increased in Q1 2026 compared with the same quarter of the previous year; credit transactions for goods recorded a higher decrease (-7.5%) than debit transactions (-0.5%), while credit transactions for services increased more (+3.1%) than debit transactions (+0.1%). In primary income account debit transactions decreased much more markedly (-14.9%) than credit transactions (-0.9%), In contrast, both credit and debit transactions of secondary income account increased (+0.3% and +2.2%, respectively).

Table showing main items of the current and capital account in euro billions for the EU as balance, credit and debit from the first quarter of 2025 to the first quarter of 2026. For more details please use the link to the source dataset code below the image.
Table 1: Main items of the current and capital account, EU, Q1 2025 - Q1 2026
Source: Eurostat (bop_eu6_q)

The surplus recorded in the services account (+€26.2 billion) was mainly the result of surpluses in telecommunications, computer and information services (+€60.4 billion), financial services (+€4.5 billion), maintenance and repair services (+€3.9 billion), travel (+€3.3 billion), transport (+€3.2 billion), manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others (+€2.9 billion) and personal, cultural and recreational services (+€2.8 billion), partially offset by deficits in charges for the use of intellectual property (-€38.3 billion) and other business services, which include research and development, professional, management consulting, technical, trade-related and other business services (-€14.5 billion).

Table showing EU trade in services with the rest of the world in euro billions from the first quarter of 2025 to the first quarter of 2026. For more details please use the link to the source dataset code below the image.
Table 2: Trade in services with the rest of the world, EU, Q1 2025 - Q1 2026
Source: Eurostat (bop_eu6_q)

Spain (mainly with travel, telecommunications, computer and information services and other business services), France (mainly with financial services, maintenance and repair services, other business services), Poland (mainly with other business services and telecommunications, computer and information services), the Netherlands (mainly with transport and maintenance and repair services) and Portugal (mainly with travel) contributed the most to the surplus. Ireland (mainly due to deficits in charges for the use of intellectual property and other business services) reported the highest deficit in trade in services with extra-EU economic counterparts.

The primary income surplus (+€22.4 billion) was the result of surpluses in direct investment income (+€15.9 billion), compensation of employees (+€10.6 billion) and other investment income (+€8.8 billion), partially offset by deficits in portfolio investment income (-€18.2 billion).

Table showing EU primary income with the rest of the world in euro billions from the first quarter of 2025 to the first quarter of 2026. For more details please use the link to the source dataset code below the image.
Table 3: Primary income with the rest of the world, EU, Q1 2025 - Q1 2026
Source: Eurostat (bop_eu6_q)

Geographical breakdown of current account transactions

In Q1 2026, the EU external current account recorded a surplus with the United Kingdom (+€72.8 billion), Switzerland (+€38.7 billion), Brazil (+€11.1 billion), Canada (+€10.1 billion), Hong Kong (+€6.9 billion), Russia (+€3.5 billion) and Japan (+€3.2 billion). Deficits were registered with China (-€66.3 billion), the United States (-€15.8 billion), offshore financial centres[1] (-€1.5 billion) and India (-€1.1 billion).

The EU recorded highest surpluses in goods account with the United Kingdom (+€50.8 billion), the United States (+€41.2 billion), Switzerland (+€13.3 billion), Canada (+€6.1 billion), Hong Kong (+€4.1 billion), Russia (+€2.8 billion), offshore financial centres (+€2.5 billion) and Japan (+€2.2 billion) and deficits were registered with China (-€76.3 billion) and India (-€1.2 billion).

In the services account, the surpluses took place with Switzerland (+€16.7 billion), the United Kingdom (+€11.1 billion), Japan (+€6.1 billion), China (+€5.4 billion), Hong Kong (+€4.8 billion), Brazil (+€3.5 billion), offshore financial centres (+€2.5 billion), Canada (+€1.7 billion) and Russia (+€0.5 billion), the deficits with the United States (-€48.4 billion) and India (-€2.2 billion).

Highest surpluses in the primary income account occurred with the United Kingdom (+€11.1 billion), Switzerland (+€10.8 billion), Brazil (+€7.5 billion), China (+€4.9 billion), India (+€3.3 billion) and Canada (+€2.5 billion), while deficits were recorded with the United States (-€8.7 billion), offshore financial centres (-€6.0 billion), Japan (-€5.2 billion) and Hong Kong (-€1.9 billion).

In the secondary income account, a surplus was registered only with Japan (+€0.1 billion), while highest deficits were recorded with Switzerland (-€2.0 billion), India (-€1.0 billion), offshore financial centres (-€0.5 billion) and China (-€0.4 billion).

Table showing EU balances with major economic partners in euro billions from the first quarter of 2025 to the first quarter of 2026. For more details please use the link to the source dataset code below the image.
Table 4: Balances with major economic partners, EU, Q1 2025 - Q1 2026
Source: Eurostat (bop_eu6_q)

Financial account

In Q1 2026 there was a net increase in financial assets held abroad by EU residents by €603.8 billion as well as a net increase of liabilities of EU residents to the rest of the world by €612.8 billion. The EU was a net recipient of direct investment from the rest of the world with net inflows of €3.3 billion. Direct investment assets held abroad by EU investors increased by €27.1 billion, as did direct investment liabilities of the EU to the rest of the world by €30.4 billion.

Table showing EU financial account transactions with the rest of the world in euro billions from the first quarter of 2025 to the first quarter of 2026. For more details please use the link to the source dataset code below the image.
Table 5: Financial account transactions with the rest of the world, EU, Q1 2025 - Q1 2026
Source: Eurostat (bop_eu6_q) and (bop_eu6_q)

Portfolio investment recorded a net inflow of €128.8 billion. Portfolio investment assets abroad increased by €170.0 billion, as did portfolio investment liabilities of the EU to the rest of the world by €298.8 billion. Other investment recorded a net outflow of €123.1 billion. EU investors increased their other investment assets held abroad by €406.7 billion, while other investment liabilities of the EU to the rest of the world increased by €283.5 billion.

Current account of EU countries (including intra-EU flows)

As concerns the total (intra-EU plus extra-EU) current account balances of the EU countries, based on available non-seasonally adjusted data, 16 EU countries recorded surpluses and 11 recorded deficits in Q1 2026. The highest surpluses were observed in Germany (+€61.8 billion), the Netherlands (+€26.3 billion), Ireland (+€17.4 billion), Denmark (+€9.2 billion), Spain (+€8.9 billion), Sweden (+€8.8 billion) and Austria (+€7.3 billion), while the largest deficits were in France (-€15.7 billion), Greece (-€6.6 billion), Romania (-€5.3 billion), Croatia (-€3.4 billion) and Bulgaria (-€2.4 billion).

In relation to GDP (size of the economy), the highest surpluses can be observed for Ireland (+12.5%), Denmark (+9.2%), the Netherlands (+8.9%), Luxembourg (+6.1%), Sweden and Austria (both +5.8%). The largest deficits were recorded for Croatia (-16.1%), Cyprus (-14.2%), Greece (-11.4%), Bulgaria (-8.8%) and Romania (-6.7%).

Vertical bar chart showing national current account balances as share of GDP in percentages for individual EU countries, some EFTA countries and some candidate countries. Each country has three columns representing the first quarter of 2025, the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026. For more details please use the link to the source dataset code below the image.
Figure 2: National current account balances as share of GDP, Q1 2026
Source: Eurostat (bop_gdp6_q)

Trade in goods was the main account behind surpluses of Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Czechia and Italy; it was also the main account behind deficits of France, Greece, Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Portugal, Estonia and Latvia. Services account decided about the surpluses of Spain, Austria, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovenia, Lithuania, Malta and Hungary. Primary income significantly contributed to surpluses of Germany, Sweden, Italy and Finland, as well as to deficits of Slovakia and Bulgaria. In secondary income account, Portugal, Croatia, Greece, Bulgaria, Latvia, Romania and Lithuania recorded surpluses, while the highest deficits were recorded by Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Belgium. For more details see Table 6 in the attached Excel file.

International investment position of EU countries

In Q1 2026, external liabilities were higher than assets in 16 EU countries (representing negative net international investment position), while external assets exceeded liabilities in 11 EU countries (Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden). Germany recorded the highest value of net IIP with €3 852.3 billion, due to direct, portfolio and other investment positions, being followed by the Netherlands (€521.4 billion), Denmark (€454.3 billion), Sweden (€368.6 billion), Italy (€351.2 billion), Belgium (€335.2 billion) and Austria (€154.8 billion), mainly due to direct investment in the case of the Netherlands and Austria, and portfolio investment in the case of Denmark, Belgium, Sweden and Italy. Greece and Cyprus recorded the highest indebtedness levels, which were above 75% of GDP, mainly due to other investment in the case of Greece and direct and other investment in the case of Cyprus. For more details see Table 7 in the attached Excel file.

Source data for tables and graphs


Data sources

The methodological framework followed in the compilation of the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position is that defined in the sixth edition of the International Monetary Fund Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6), published in 2009.

In the compilation of BOP, responsibility is shared between Eurostat and the ECB. Eurostat is responsible for monthly BOP and quarterly and annual BOP, IIP, ITSS and FDI aggregates of the EU, as well as on detailed ITSS data also for the euro area, whereas the European Central Bank (ECB) is in charge of compiling and disseminating the euro area monthly and quarterly balance of payments, as well as quarterly international investment position statistics.

Monthly BOP data are available starting from January 1999. Quarterly BOP items are available from first quarter 1982, while quarterly IIP from fourth quarter 1993. Data are available for the European Union, EU countries, euro area, EFTA and candidate countries. Data are compiled and disseminated for transactions and positions of the total economy vis-à-vis the rest of the world and major economic counterparts (Switzerland, Russia, the USA, Canada, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan and Offshore financial centres)[2]. Additionally, for financial account transactions and positions, as well as related income, data are available with a sector breakdown.

Context

In line with the agreed allocation of responsibility, the European Central Bank (ECB) is in charge of compiling and disseminating monthly and quarterly balance of payments statistics for the euro area, whereas the European Commission (Eurostat) focuses on quarterly and annual aggregates of the EU. The aggregates for the euro area and the EU are compiled consistently on the basis of EU countries' transactions with residents of countries outside the euro area and the European Union respectively.

Footnotes

  1. Offshore Financial Centres (OFC) is an aggregate which includes 40 countries. As examples, the aggregate contains European financial centres, such as Liechtenstein, Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man, Andorra and Gibraltar; Central American OFC such as Panama and Caribbean islands like Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands; and Asian OFC such as Bahrain, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines. ↑
  2. See above Note 1. ↑

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