Balance of Payments: November 2025
20/01/2026 - Press Releases
- In November 2025, the current account deficit decreased year-on-year, due to an improvement chiefly in the secondary income account and, to a lesser extent, in the balance of goods and the balance of services, while the primary income account deteriorated.
- In January-November 2025, the current account deficit shrank year-on-year, reflecting improvements in all sub-accounts, mainly in the balance of goods.
Current account
In November 2025, the current account deficit decreased by €1.3 billion year‑on‑year and stood at €2.1 billion. The balance of goods and services also showed an improvement.
The goods deficit declined, as exports increased and imports decreased. At current prices, exports of goods rose by 1.5% (2.5% at constant prices), while imports of goods dropped by 5.5% (-2.9% at constant prices). Non-oil exports of goods at current prices fell by 2.7% (-3.2% at constant prices), while the corresponding imports dropped by 3.0% (-3.8% at constant prices).
The surplus of the services balance increased, mainly on account of an improvement in the travel balance, which was largely offset by a deterioration in the transport and the other services balances. Compared with November 2024, non-residents’ arrivals rose by 9.7% and the relevant receipts grew by 27.7%.
The deficit of the primary income account increased year-on-year, reflecting a drop in net receipts under other primary income, which was partly offset by a decrease in net interest, dividend and profit payments. The secondary income account recorded a surplus, against a deficit in November 2024, owing to a shift from net payments to net receipts in the general government sector.[1]
In January-November 2025, the current account deficit fell by €3.0 billion year-on-year to stand at €10.3 billion. The deficit of the balance of goods and services also improved.
The goods deficit shrank, reflecting a larger drop in imports than exports. At current prices, exports of goods decreased by 3.0% (up by 1.5% at constant prices) and imports of goods fell by 4.6% (-3.2% at constant prices). At current prices, non-oil exports of goods increased by 2.4%, as did the corresponding imports, by 1.8% (4.9% and 1.2% at constant prices, respectively).
The services surplus widened on account of an improvement in the travel balance, despite a deterioration in the transport and the other services balances. Compared with January-November 2004, non-residents’ arrivals increased by 4.6% and the relevant receipts rose by 8.9%.
The primary income account deficit fell year-on-year, mainly driven by lower net interest, dividend and profit payments. The secondary income surplus grew year-on-year, due to a fall in general government net payments, which was partly offset by weaker net receipts in the other sectors of the economy excluding general government.
Capital account
In November 2025, the capital account surplus grew significantly year-on-year, reflecting an increase in general government net receipts.[2]
In January-November 2025, the capital account showed a surplus of €1.7 billion, against a deficit in the same period of 2024, on account of higher general government net receipts.
Combined current and capital account
In November 2025, the deficit of the combined current and capital account (corresponding to the economy’s external financing requirements) fell markedly year-on-year to stand at €946.2 million.
In January-November 2025, the deficit of the combined current and capital account decreased year-on-year and amounted to €8.5 billion.
Financial account
In November 2025, direct investment saw net flows of €186.5 million under residents’ external assets and net flows of €183.7 million under residents’ external liabilities.
Under portfolio investment, an increase in residents’ external assets is attributable principally to a rise of €730.0 million in residents’ holdings of foreign bonds and Treasury bills and, to a lesser extent, an increase of €234.1 million in their holdings of foreign equities. A rise in residents’ external liabilities is mainly due to a €2.1 billion increase in non-residents’ holdings of Greek bonds and Treasury bills, and, to a lesser extent, a €130.0 million increase in non-residents’ holdings of Greek equities.
Under other investment, residents’ external assets grew owing mainly to a rise of €417.7 million in loans extended to non-residents by domestic financial institutions and, to a lesser extent, due to a rise of €290.9 million in residents’ deposits and repo holdings abroad, which were offset to a degree by a €311.0 million statistical adjustment associated with the issuance of banknotes. A decline in their liabilities reflects a drop of €320.7 million in residents’ outstanding debt to non‑residents and the aforementioned €311.0 million statistical adjustment, which were partly offset by an increase of €491.0 million in non‑residents’ deposit and repo holdings in Greece (the TARGET account included).
In January-November 2025, direct investment showed a €5.0 billion net flow under residents’ external assets and a €11.0 billion net flow under residents’ external liabilities, representing non-residents’ direct investment in Greece.
Under portfolio investment, an increase in residents’ external assets is attributable to a €5.3 billion rise in residents’ holdings of foreign equities, most of which was offset by a €4.0 billion fall in residents’ holdings of foreign bonds and Treasury bills. A rise in residents’ external liabilities is mainly due to a €13.7 billion increase in non-residents’ holdings of Greek bonds and Treasury bills.
Under other investment, a rise in residents’ external assets was mainly due to a €6.2 billion statistical adjustment associated with the issuance of banknotes and, to a lesser extent, a €2.1 billion rise in loans extended to non-residents, which were partly offset by a €635.3 million drop in residents’ deposit and repo holdings abroad. A decrease in residents’ liabilities was mainly associated with a decline of €7.0 billion in non-residents’ deposit and repo holdings in Greece (the TARGET account included) and, to a lesser extent, with a fall of €1.7 billion in loans extended to residents by foreign credit institutions, which were largely offset by the aforementioned €6.2 billion statistical adjustment.
At end-November 2025, Greece’s reserve assets stood at €20.1 billion, compared with €14.6 billion at end-November 2024.
Note: Balance of payments statistics for December 2025 will be released on 20 February 2026.
[1] It should be noted that November 2025 saw the disbursement of the sixth tranche by the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), which is recorded under the secondary income account and the capital account.
[2] See previous footnote.