Balance of Payments: February 2025
17/04/2025 - Press Releases
- In February 2025, the current account deficit dropped year-on-year, due to an improvement in the balance of goods and, to a lesser extent, the primary income account, which was partly offset by a deterioration of the balance of services and the secondary income account.
- In the January-February 2025 period, the current account deficit grew year-on-year, owing to a worsening of the secondary income account and the balance of services, which was offset to a degree by an improvement in the balance of goods and, to a lesser extent, the primary income account.
Current account
In February 2025, the current account deficit fell by €573.2 million year-on-year and stood at €2.5 billion.
The goods deficit shrank, reflecting a drop in imports and a parallel small increase in exports. At current prices, exports rose by 0.9% (3.4% at constant prices) and imports decreased by 7.6% (-7.9% at constant prices). Specifically, non-oil goods exports at current prices increased by 1.1% (2.4% at constant prices), while the corresponding imports dropped by 3.0% (-4.1% at constant prices).
The services balance surplus fell due to surplus decline across all its sub-components. Compared with February 2024, non-residents’ arrivals registered a slight decrease of 0.8% and the relevant receipts recorded a small increase of 0.5%.
The deficit of the primary income account fell almost by half year-on-year, reflecting a drop in net interest, dividend and profit payments, as well as an increase in net receipts from other primary income. The deficit of the secondary income account grew, owing to higher net payments in the other sectors of the economy excluding general government.
In January-February 2025, the current account deficit rose by €211.1 million year-on-year and stood at €1.5 billion. The goods deficit decreased, as imports – mainly of oil – dropped, while exports increased. At current prices, exports rose by 1.3% (3.0% at constant prices) and imports decreased by 1.6% (2.1% at constant prices). Specifically, non-oil exports of goods at current prices grew by 3.6%, while the corresponding imports increased by 2.8% (4.6% and 1.8% at constant prices, respectively).
The surplus of the services balance shrank, mainly due to a shift from net receipts to net payments in the other services balance and, to a lesser extent, as a result of lower net receipts in the travel and transport balances. Compared with January-February 2024, non-residents’ arrivals rose by 5.4% and the relevant receipts grew by 3.9%.
The surplus of the primary income account increased relative to January-February 2024, chiefly driven by a drop in net interest, dividend and profit payments. The surplus of the secondary income account shrank year-on-year in the same period, as general government registered higher net payments, and the other sectors of the economy excluding general government recorded lower net receipts.
Capital account
In February 2025, the capital account showed a surplus of €209.9 million, against a deficit in February 2024, reflecting an increase in general government net receipts.
In January-February 2025, the capital account recorded a surplus of €360.7 million, against a deficit in the corresponding period of 2024, as a result of both an increase in general government net receipts and a decrease in net payments in the other sectors of the economy excluding general government.
Combined current and capital account
In February 2025, the deficit of the combined current and capital account (corresponding to the economy’s external financing requirements) decreased markedly against February 2024 and stood at €2.3 billion.
In January-February 2025, the deficit of the combined current and capital account decreased year-on-year and amounted to €1.1 billion.
Financial account
In February 2025, direct investment saw net flows of €925.5 million under residents’ external assets and net flows of €370.4 million under residents’ external liabilities.
Under portfolio investment, a decrease in residents’ external assets is attributable to a drop of €707.0 million in their holdings of foreign bonds and Treasury bills, which was largely offset by an increase in residents’ holdings of foreign equities. A rise in their liabilities in chiefly due to an increase in non-residents’ holdings of both Greek equities, by €172.0 million, and Greek bonds and Treasury bills, by €93.0 million.
Under other investment, residents’ external assets grew due to a €1.3 billion rise in residents’ deposit and repo holdings abroad, but also as a result of a €432.0 million statistical adjustment associated with the issuance of banknotes. An increase in residents’ external liabilities chiefly reflects a rise of €4.9 billion in non-residents’ deposit and repo holdings in Greece (including the TARGET account) and, to a lesser extent, a €432.0 million statistical adjustment associated with the issuance of banknotes, which were offset, to a degree, by a decline of €1.4 billion in the outstanding debt to non-residents.
In January-February 2025, direct investment showed a €1.0 billion flow under residents’ external assets and an €819.3 million flow under residents’ external liabilities, representing non‑residents’ direct investment in Greece.
Under portfolio investment, a small increase in residents’ external assets is attributable to a rise of €545.1 million in residents’ holdings of foreign equities, which was mostly offset by a drop in residents’ holdings of foreign bonds and Treasury bills. A rise in residents’ external liabilities is almost exclusively due to an increase of €3.6 billion in non-residents’ holdings of Greek bonds and Treasury bills.
Under other investment, a rise in residents’ external assets is due to an increase of €1.2 billion in residents’ deposit and repo holdings abroad, a €1.1 billion statistical adjustment associated with the issuance of banknotes and, to a lesser extent, a rise of €614.8 million in loans extended to non-residents. A decline in their liabilities chiefly reflects a drop of €1.8 billion in residents’ outstanding debt to non-residents, which was mostly offset by a statistical adjustment of €1.1 billion associated with the issuance of banknotes and an increase of €501.0 million in non-residents’ deposit and repo holdings in Greece (including the TARGET account).
At end-February 2025, Greece’s reserve assets stood at €15.7 billion, compared with €12.4 billion at end-February 2024.
Note: Balance of payments data for March 2025 will be released on 21 May 2025.