In January 2024, the current account registered a surplus, against a deficit in January 2023, mainly due to an improvement in the secondary income account and, to a lesser extent, in the balance of services, while the balance of goods and the primary income account deteriorated.
Current account
In January 2024, the current account registered a surplus of EUR1.7 billion, against a deficit in January 2023.
The goods deficit grew, reflecting a larger drop in exports than in imports. At current prices, exports fell by 10.4% (-7.9% at constant prices) and imports decreased by 3.4% (up by 1.6% at constant prices). More specifically, non-oil goods exports at current prices fell by 8.4% (-9.5% at constant prices) and the corresponding imports grew by 1.1% (1.9% at constant prices).
The services surplus widened in January 2024. This development is attributable to an improvement in all its main components, especially the other services balance. Non-residents' arrivals grew by 16.0% year-on-year and the relevant receipts increased by 27.1%.
The surplus of the primary income account dropped year-on-year, as net receipts from other primary income registered a decline, almost half of which was offset by a shift from net payments to net receipts of interest, dividend and profits. The surplus of the secondary income account rose considerably compared with January 2023, due to higher net receipts in the other sectors of the economy, excluding general government, which is associated with an inflow from the reallocation of the Eurosystem's monetary income to the Bank of Greece.
Capital account
In January 2024, the capital account showed a deficit of EUR166.9 million, against a surplus in January 2023, mainly due to a decrease of EUR1.2 billion in general government net receipts.[1]
Combined current and capital account
In January 2024, the surplus of the combined current and capital account (corresponding to the economy's external financing requirements) grew by EUR254.0 million to reach EUR1.5 billion.
Financial account
In January 2024, direct investment showed a EUR243.4 million flow into residents' external assets and a EUR375.6 million flow into residents' external liabilities representing non-residents' direct investment in Greece, without any remarkable transactions.
Under portfolio investment, an increase in residents' external assets is attributable principally to a rise of EUR301.0 million in residents' holdings of foreign bonds and Treasury bills and, to a lesser extent, to an increase of EUR130.1 million in their holdings of foreign equities. A rise in their liabilities is almost exclusively due to an increase of EUR2.0 billion in non-residents' holdings of Greek bonds and Treasury bills.
Under other investment, a decline in residents' external assets stemmed from a EUR2.0 billion statistical adjustment associated with the issuance of banknotes, as well as a decrease of EUR1.6 billion in residents' deposit and repo holdings abroad. A drop in their liabilities mainly reflects a decline of EUR5.3 billion in non-residents' deposit and repo holdings in Greece (the TARGET account included), and to a lesser extent a EUR2.0 billion statistical adjustment associated with the issuance of banknotes.
At end-January 2024, Greece's reserve assets stood at EUR12.2 billion, compared with EUR11.8 billion at end-January 2023.
Note: Balance of payments data for February 2024 will be released on 19 April 2024.
[1] It should be noted that January 2023 had seen the disbursement of the second tranche by the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), which was recorded under the secondary income account and the capital account.
BANK OF GREECE 
