Balance of Payments: October 2025
22/12/2025 - Press Releases
- In October 2025, the current account deficit increased year-on-year, mainly due to a deterioration in the primary and secondary income accounts and, to a lesser extent, in the balance of services, which was partly offset by an improvement in the balance of goods.
- In January-October 2025, the current account deficit decreased year-on-year, chiefly owing to an improvement in the balance of goods and the primary income account and, to a lesser extent, in the balance of services, while the secondary income account deteriorated.
Current account
In October 2025, the current account deficit increased by €449.5 million year-on-year and stood at €1.1 billion, while the balance of goods and services improved.
The goods deficit declined, as exports increased and imports decreased. At current prices, exports of goods rose by 7.2% (11.8% at constant prices), while imports of goods dropped by 4.0% (-2.7% at constant prices). Non-oil exports of goods at current prices rose by 3.2% (6.2% at constant prices), while the corresponding imports fell by 1.9% (-2.7% at constant prices).
The surplus of the services balance decreased slightly due to a shift of the other services balance from surplus to deficit and to a deterioration in the transport balance, which was mostly offset by an improvement in the travel balance. Compared with October 2024, non-residents’ arrivals rose by 7.2% and the relevant receipts grew by 8.2%.
The primary income account registered a deficit, against a surplus in the corresponding month a year earlier, mainly on the back of net payments, as against net receipts of interest, dividends and profits. The secondary income account registered a deficit, against a surplus in October 2024, as general government registered net payments instead of net receipts.[1]
In January-October 2025, the current account deficit fell by €1.8 billion year-on-year to stand at €8.1 billion. The goods and services deficit also improved.
The goods deficit shrank, reflecting a larger drop in imports than in exports. At current prices, exports of goods decreased by 3.4% (+1.4% at constant prices) and imports of goods by 4.5% (-3.2% at constant prices). Non-oil exports and imports of goods at current prices increased by 2.9% and 2.3% respectively (5.7% and 1.7% at constant prices, respectively).
The surplus of the services balance grew on account of an improvement in the travel balance, which was mostly offset by a deterioration of the transport and the other services balances. Non-residents’ arrivals increased by 4.4% year-on-year 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 surplus of the secondary income account declined year-on-year, primarily due to lower net receipts in the other sectors of the economy excluding general government.
Capital account
In October 2025, the capital account showed a deficit of €18.9 million, against a surplus in October 2024, as general government registered almost zero net receipts.
In January-October 2025, the capital account showed a surplus of €582.9 million, against a deficit in the same period of 2024, on account of higher general government net receipts.
Combined current and capital account
In October 2025, the deficit of the combined current and capital account (corresponding to the economy’s external financing requirements) rose year-on-year to €1.1 billion.
In January-October 2025, the deficit of the combined current and capital account shrank year-on-year to €7.5 billion.
Financial account
In October 2025, direct investment saw net flows of €1.7 billion under residents’ external assets and net flows of €1.7 billion under residents’ external liabilities. The most important transaction was the acquisition of Bally’s International Interactive (USA) by the INTRALOT group.
Under portfolio investment, a decrease in residents’ external assets mainly reflected a €1.1 billion drop in residents’ holdings of foreign bonds and Treasury bills, which was partly offset by a €355.9 million rise in residents’ holdings of foreign equities. A rise in residents’ external liabilities was mainly due to a €2.4 billion increase in non-residents’ holdings of Greek bonds and Treasury bills, and, to a lesser extent, to a €181.0 million rise in non-residents’ holdings of Greek equities.
Under other investment, an increase in residents’ external assets reflects a €1.7 billion statistical adjustment associated with the issuance of banknotes and, to a lesser extent, a rise of €543.4 million in loans extended to non-residents by domestic financial institutions, which were offset to a degree by a €392.6 million decline in residents’ deposit and repo holdings abroad. A decline in residents’ external liabilities is associated with a €1.4 billion decrease in the outstanding debt to non-residents and a €967.0 million drop in non-residents’ deposit and repo holdings in Greece (the TARGET account included), which were partly offset by a €1.7 billion statistical adjustment related to the issuance of banknotes.
In January-October 2025, direct investment showed a €4.3 billion net flow under residents’ external assets and a €10.3 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 €5.1 billion rise in residents’ holdings of foreign equities, which was offset for the most part by a €4.4 billion fall in residents’ holdings of foreign bonds and Treasury bills. A rise in residents’ external liabilities was mainly due to a €11.6 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 €6.5 billion statistical adjustment associated with the issuance of banknotes and, to a lesser extent, to a €1.7 billion rise in loans extended to non-residents, which were partly offset by a €926.2 million drop in residents’ deposit and repo holdings abroad. A decrease in residents’ external liabilities was associated with a €7.5 billion decline in non-residents’ deposit and repo holdings in Greece (the TARGET account included), which was mostly offset by a €6.5 billion statistical adjustment associated with the issuance of banknotes.
At end-October 2025, Greece’s reserve assets stood at €19.7 billion, compared with €14.8 billion at end-October 2024.
Note: Balance of payments statistics for November 2025 will be released on 20 January 2026.
[1] It should be noted that, in October 2024, the fourth tranche was disbursed by the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and was recorded under the secondary income account and the capital account.