Balance of Payments: December 2024
20/02/2025 - Press Releases
- In December 2024, the current account deficit increased year-on-year, due to a deterioration in the secondary and, to a lesser extent, the primary income accounts, which was partly offset by an improvement in the balances of goods and services.
- In 2024, the current account deficit increased year-on-year, owing to a worsening, mainly, in the balance of goods and, secondarily, in the primary income account, which was offset to a degree by an improvement in the balance of services and in the secondary income account.
Current account
In December 2024, the current account deficit increased by €684.2 million year-on-year and stood at €3.6 billion.
The goods deficit contracted, reflecting a larger rise in exports than in imports. At current prices, exports increased by 7.6% (9.1% at constant prices) and imports by 0.6% (-0.1% at constant prices). Specifically, non-oil goods exports at current prices rose by 13.0% (14.2% at constant prices), while the corresponding imports increased by 1.4% (1.1% at constant prices).
The surplus of the services balance increased, due to an improvement in all sub‑accounts, the largest one being that of the travel balance. Compared with December 2023, non-residents’ arrivals rose by 15.3% and the relevant receipts grew by 33.3%.
The deficit of the primary income account grew year-on-year, reflecting a rise in net interest, dividend and profit payments. The secondary income account registered a deficit, against a surplus in December 2023, as general government registered net payments instead of net receipts.[1]
In 2024, the current account deficit increased by €1.2 billion year-on-year and stood at €15.1 billion. The goods deficit widened, reflecting a drop in exports and a parallel increase in imports. At current prices, exports dropped by 2.8% (‑2.4% at constant prices) and imports grew by 1.5% (2.8% at constant prices). However, non-oil goods exports at current prices rose by 1.0% and the corresponding imports increased by 3.9% (‑1.2% and 4.0% at constant prices, respectively).
The surplus of the services balance expanded as a result of an improvement in, primarily, the travel balance and, secondarily, the other services balance, which was partly offset by a deterioration in the transport balance. Non-residents’ arrivals grew by 9.8% year-on-year and the relevant receipts increased by 5.4%.
The deficit of the primary income account increased year-on-year, owing to higher net payments for other primary income. The surplus of the secondary income account recorded a significant increase year-on-year, due to higher net receipts in the other sectors of the economy excluding general government, despite a shift from net receipts to net payments in general government.
Capital account
In December 2024, the surplus of the capital account decreased year-on-year and stood at €13.6 million, reflecting zero net receipts in the general government sector.
In 2024, the capital account showed a small deficit at €21.0 million, against a surplus in 2023, chiefly due to a decrease in general government net receipts.
Combined current and capital account
In December 2024, the deficit of the combined current and capital account (corresponding to the economy’s external financing requirements) increased and stood at €3.6 billion.
In 2024, the deficit of the combined current and capital account increased year-on-year by €3.9 billion and stood at €15.1 billion.
Financial account
In December 2024, direct investment saw net flows of €204.5 million under residents’ external assets and net flows of €1.2 billion under residents’ external liabilities.
Under portfolio investment, a decrease in residents’ external assets is attributable to a contraction of €984.0 million in their holdings of foreign bonds and Treasury bills, which was partly offset by an increase in their holdings of foreign equities. A rise in residents’ external liabilities is almost exclusively due to an increase of €1.2 billion in non-residents’ holdings of Greek bonds and Treasury bills.
Under other investment, residents’ external assets grew, mainly due to a €824.0 million rise in residents’ deposit and repo holdings abroad, but also due to a €279.0 million statistical adjustment associated with the issuance of banknotes. An increase in residents’ external liabilities reflects chiefly a rise of €8.9 billion in non-residents’ deposit and repo holdings in Greece (the TARGET account included) and, to a lesser extent, a €279.0 million statistical adjustment associated with the issuance of banknotes, which was offset, to a large degree, by a decline of €7.8 billion in the outstanding debt to non-residents.
In 2024, direct investment showed a €1.7 billion flow under residents’ external assets and a €6.0 billion flow under residents’ external liabilities, representing non-residents’ direct investment in Greece.
Under portfolio investment, an increase in residents’ external assets is attributable principally to a rise of €3.4 billion in residents’ holdings of foreign bonds and Treasury bills and, secondarily, to an increase of €1.8 billion in their holdings of foreign equities. An increase in residents’ external liabilities reflects, primarily, a €10.0 billion rise in non-residents’ holdings of Greek bonds and Treasury bills and, secondarily, a €2.0 billion increase in non-residents’ holdings of Greek equities.
Under other investment, a drop in residents’ external assets was attributable to a decline of €6.3 billion in residents’ deposit and repo holdings abroad, which was offset mainly by a €4.1 billion statistical adjustment associated with the issuance of banknotes, and, to a lesser extent, by a €2.0 million rise in loans extended to non-residents by domestic financial institutions. An increase in residents’ external liabilities reflects, on the one hand, a rise of €6.4 billion in non-residents’ deposit and repo holdings in Greece (the TARGET account included) and, on the other hand, a €4.1 billion statistical adjustment associated with the issuance of banknotes, which was offset, to a degree, by a decline of €9.9 billion in the outstanding debt to non-residents.
At end-December 2024, Greece’s reserve assets stood at €14.6 billion, compared with €12.3 billion at end-December 2023.
Note: Balance of payments statistics for January 2025 will be released on 24 March 2025.
[1] It should be noted that December 2023 had seen the disbursement of the third tranche by the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), which is recorded under the secondary income account and the capital account.