Current Account

The Current Account (BOP item CA) is a sub-balance of the Balance of Payments (BOP). Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, publishes it; the European Central Bank (ECB) compiles euro-area figures.

It covers only transactions between residents and non-residents outside the area, excluding deals inside it. It follows the sixth edition of the Balance of Payments Manual (BPM6), in use since October 2014.

It does not measure domestic output, jobs or prices, nor stocks of assets and liabilities, which belong to the International Investment Position (IIP).

Eurostat issues a quarterly news release about 3 months after quarter-end. The European Central Bank publishes a monthly reading with a press release. First estimates appear 7 weeks after the reference period; the full dataset after 3 months and 1 week.

Member States send quarterly figures 82 days after quarter-end, or 85 days for non-members. A limited monthly dataset appears online about 51 days after the reference month.

The headline EU current-and-capital-account table and the euro-area table are both calendar and seasonally adjusted. Partner breakdowns, the financial account and Member State totals carry no calendar or seasonal adjustment. Reference-quarter figures stay provisional and revise with later member data, back 4 years with no final version. Unlimited revision depth applies in the third quarter, and aggregates move with components.

Four parts move the balance, each its own credits minus debits.

• Goods: Covers merchandise moving between residents and non-residents, non-monetary gold and net merchanting. Goods are valued free on board (FOB); freight and insurance sit in services.
• Services: Covers manufacturing for others, maintenance, transport, travel, construction, insurance and finance. It also covers intellectual property, telecom, business, personal and government services.
• Primary income: Captures employee compensation and investment income: interest, dividends, branch profits and reinvested earnings. It also covers rent and taxes on production net of subsidies.
• Secondary income: Captures current transfers with no return: government transfers and workers remittances. It is usually a deficit item for the area.

The 4 October 2024 release for the second quarter of 2024 showed a euro-area surplus of 131.6 billion euros, or 3.5% of GDP. It was 104.3 billion in the first quarter of 2024, or 2.8%. It was 62.8 billion in the second quarter of 2023, or 1.7%, so it more than doubled over the year.

Goods added 102.9 billion, services 51.0 billion and primary income 21.4 billion, against a secondary-income deficit of 43.7 billion. The surplus still rose 27.3 billion on the quarter on a services surge and a primary-income swing, so watching goods alone would have misread it.

The balance itself has no good or bad level; only its three-year average faces +6% and -4% limits.

1. Accruals and valuation: Record each transaction when ownership changes, at market prices.
2. Credits, debits and balances: For each item, credits and debits carry plus signs; the balance is credits minus debits.
3. Current-account sum: The balance equals goods plus services plus primary income plus secondary income (CA = G + S + IN1 + IN2). For the second quarter of 2024, 102.9 plus 51.0 plus 21.4 minus 43.7 equals 131.6 billion euros, or 3.5% of GDP.
4. Euro-area consolidation: Add Member State transactions with non-residents outside the area only, excluding intra-area flows. Add the ECB, ESM and EFSF where applicable. Compile from national banks and statistical offices through harmonised questionnaires covering customs, surveys, banks and administrative sources.
5. Adjustment: Publish headline tables calendar and seasonally adjusted, directly at aggregate level. Adjust current-account components monthly, with working-day, leap-year and Easter effects where needed.
6. Scale: Express the balance in EUR millions and as a share of GDP, dividing by GDP times 100.
7. Double-entry check: Balance the current, capital and financial accounts through net errors and omissions, which sum to zero in principle as the balancing item.