Lisbon, Oct. 18, 2024 (Lusa) - The Bank of Portugal (BdP) announced on Friday that the Portuguese economy had an external surplus of €6.921 billion in August, compared to a surplus of €4.035 billion in the same period last year.
According to the Bank of Portugal, this development reflects the €281 million reduction in the balance of goods deficit, which was mainly due to the increase in exports (by €277 million, or 0.6 %).
It also reflects the €1.543 billion increase in the services balance surplus (mainly due to the €1.284 billion increase in the travel and tourism balance) and the €940 million decrease in the primary income balance deficit, mainly due to the greater allocation to final beneficiaries of funds received from the European Union in the form of subsidies.
Up to August, the external surplus resulted from an increase in the secondary income balance surplus of €308 million, which "reflects the receipt of Portugal's biggest ever Euromillions prize in June and the reduction in Portugal's contribution to the European Union budget".
Finally, it also reflected a decrease in the capital account surplus of €188 million, mainly due to a sharper decrease in receipts than in payments abroad relating to non-produced non-financial assets, which include carbon emission licences and athletes' passes.
The Portuguese economy's financing capacity in the first eight months of the year led to a positive financial balance of €7.2 billion.
This balance resulted from an increase in foreign assets of €19.455 billion, "mainly as a result of investment by banks and public administrations in debt securities issued by non-residents (€8.205 billion and €2.732 billion respectively), an increase in loans granted by non-financial companies to non-resident intra-group entities (€2.648 billion) and an increase in cash assets and central bank deposits (€1.403 billion).
It also reflected the growth in liabilities, of €12.266 billion, "mainly due to the increase in debt securities held by non-residents, issued by public administrations and banks (€11.320 billion and €3.649 billion, respectively), and direct investment in capital instruments of non-financial companies (€6.048 billion).
According to the BdP, these increases were partially offset by a €5.411 billion reduction in central bank deposit liabilities.
Up until August, the sectors that contributed most to Portugal's positive change in net assets vis-à-vis the rest of the world were the central bank (€7.199 billion), other monetary financial institutions (€2.156 billion), private individuals (€1.452 billion), insurance companies and pension funds (€984 million), and non-monetary financial institutions other than insurance companies and pension funds (€627 million).
On the other hand, non-financial corporations and the general government recorded negative changes in their net assets of €1.549 billion and €3.678 billion, respectively.
The Bank of Portugal said that in August alone, the current and capital account balance totalled €1.580 billion, which corresponds to a decrease of €47 million compared to the same period last year.
PD/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
