{"id":3630,"date":"2026-05-21T21:01:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T21:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitalmarkettrends.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/euro-zone-current-account-surplus-shrinks-sharply-in-march\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T21:01:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T21:01:33","slug":"euro-zone-current-account-surplus-shrinks-sharply-in-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalmarkettrends.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/euro-zone-current-account-surplus-shrinks-sharply-in-march\/","title":{"rendered":"Euro zone current account surplus shrinks sharply in March"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The euro zone\u2019s combined current account surplus narrowed sharply in March, largely due to a significant decline in the trade surplus, according to data released by the European Central Bank<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The current account surplus, adjusted for seasonal and working-day factors, fell to \u20ac14.9 billion in March from \u20ac25.6 billion in the previous month.<\/p>\n

However, based on unadjusted data, the surplus widened to \u20ac24.1 billion from \u20ac21.7 billion a month earlier.<\/p>\n

The ECB said the current account recorded a \u20ac15 billion surplus in March 2026, down from \u20ac26 billion in the previous month.<\/p>\n

Trade surplus decline pressures the current account<\/h2>\n

According to the ECB, the decline in the current account balance was driven mainly by a drop in the euro area\u2019s trade surplus, which was likely linked to higher energy costs.<\/p>\n

The euro area posted surpluses<\/a> in several major categories during March. <\/p>\n

Goods recorded a surplus of \u20ac14 billion, while services also posted a \u20ac14 billion surplus.<\/p>\n

Primary income contributed an additional \u20ac2 billion surplus.<\/p>\n

These gains were partly offset by a \u20ac16 billion deficit in secondary income, the ECB said.<\/p>\n

The ECB\u2019s Chart 1, which tracks the euro area current account balance in seasonally adjusted terms, showed a notable monthly decline in the overall surplus during March.<\/p>\n

Annual surplus declines from the previous year<\/h2>\n

Over the 12 months to March 2026, the euro area current account surplus amounted to \u20ac275 billion, equivalent to 1.7% of euro area gross domestic product.<\/p>\n

This marked a decline from the \u20ac368 billion surplus, or 2.4% of GDP, recorded one year earlier.<\/p>\n

The figures indicate that the euro area\u2019s external balance weakened over the past year despite continuing surpluses in goods and services trade.<\/p>\n

Portfolio investment flows remain strong<\/h2>\n

The ECB also released details on developments in the financial account.<\/p>\n

In the 12 months to March 2026, euro area residents\u2019 net acquisitions of non-euro area portfolio investment securities totalled \u20ac779 billion.<\/p>\n

At the same time, non-residents\u2019 net acquisitions of euro area portfolio investment securities reached \u20ac981 billion.<\/p>\n

The data highlighted continued cross-border investment activity despite the decline in the current account surplus.<\/p>\n

ECB highlights March balance details<\/h2>\n

The ECB said the euro area current account balance in March reflected mixed contributions across different sectors of the economy.<\/p>\n

While goods and services continued to support the balance, weaker trade dynamics and the deficit in secondary income weighed on the final figure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of \u20ac15 billion in March 2026, a decrease of \u20ac11 billion from the previous month,\u201d the ECB said.<\/p>\n

It added that \u201csurpluses were recorded for goods (\u20ac14 billion), services (\u20ac14 billion) and primary income (\u20ac2 billion). These were partly offset by a deficit for secondary income (\u20ac16 billion).\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Euro zone current account surplus shrinks sharply in March<\/a> appeared first on Invezz<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The euro zone\u2019s combined current account surplus narrowed sharply in March, largely due to a significant decline in the trade surplus, according to data released by the European Central Bank on Thursday. The current account surplus, adjusted for seasonal and working-day factors, fell to \u20ac14.9 billion in March from \u20ac25.6 billion in the previous month. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3631,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalmarkettrends.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalmarkettrends.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalmarkettrends.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmarkettrends.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmarkettrends.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmarkettrends.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmarkettrends.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalmarkettrends.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmarkettrends.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalmarkettrends.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}