Balance of Payments: January 2023
23/03/2023 - Press Releases
- In January 2023, the current account deficit decreased year‑on‑year, mainly due to an improvement of the secondary income account and the balance of goods and, to a lesser extent, of the primary income account, which was partly offset by a deterioration of the balance of services.
Current account
In January 2023, the current account deficit decreased by €2.0 billion year‑on‑year and stood at €125.2 million.
A drop in the deficit of the balance of goods is accounted for by a larger increase in exports of goods than in imports of goods. More specifically, exports grew by 30.4% at current prices (12.3% at constant prices) and imports increased by 5.6% at current prices (1.2% at constant prices). In particular, non‑oil exports of goods grew by 17.7% at current prices (4.2% at constant prices) and non‑oil imports of goods rose by 3.0% at current prices (-2.0% at constant prices).
The surplus in the services balance declined, mainly due to a decrease in the transport surplus, as well as a small deterioration of the travel balance, while the other services balance improved. Non‑residents’ arrivals and the relevant receipts grew by 86.1% and 71.9%, respectively, year‑on‑year. The surplus of the transport balance dropped, despite a small improvement of the sea transport balance.
The surplus of the primary income account increased year‑on‑year, as a result of higher net receipts from other primary income. The surplus of the secondary income account increased, primarily as the general government registered net receipts instead of net payments, following the disbursement of the second tranche by the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), and net receipts in the other sectors (excluding general government) rose.
Capital account
In January 2023, the capital account showed a surplus of €1.4 billion, compared with a deficit in January 2022, mainly due to capital inflows from the RRF.
Combined current and capital account
In January 2023, the combined current and capital account (corresponding to the economy's external financing requirements) showed a surplus of €1.3 billion, against a deficit in January 2022.
Financial account
In January 2023, under direct investment, residents' external assets increased by €14.9 million and residents' external liabilities grew by €211.1 million.
Under portfolio investment, a rise in residents’ external assets is mainly due to an increase of €422.0 million in residents’ holdings of foreign bonds and Treasury bills. A rise in their liabilities is due to an increase of €1.5 billion in non‑residents’ holdings of Greek bonds and Treasury bills.
Under other investment, a drop in residents’ external assets reflects a €296.7 million decline in loans extended to non‑residents, which was partly offset by a statistical adjustment of €167.0 million associated with the issuance of banknotes and an increase of €30.0 million in residents’ deposits and repo holdings abroad. A decline in residents’ external liabilities reflects a drop of €4.4 billion in non‑residents’ deposit and repo holdings in Greece (the TARGET account included), which was partly offset by a €1.5 billion rise in loans extended to residents (including the RRF loan inflow).
At end‑January 2023, Greece’s reserve assets stood at €11.8 billion.
Related information: Balance of payments data for February 2023 will be released on 20 April 2023.