In January 2019 the combined current and capital account balance stood at -€700 million, compared with -€456 million in the same period in 2018 (Chart 1).
These developments were chiefly due to the goods, services and capital accounts, partly offset by the primary and secondary income accounts (Chart 2).
The goods account deficit increased by €382 million and the services account surplus decreased by €72 million, due to items under transportation and other services excluding ‘Travel’ (Chart 3).
In the first month of the year, exports of goods and services grew by 5.0% (4.7% in goods and 5.6% in services). Imports rose by 11.1% (10.4% in goods and 14.5% in services).
In January 2019 the primary income account deficit reduced €163 million compared with January of the previous year and stood at €153 million. This change was chiefly due to the decrease in interest paid to non-residents.
The financial account balance saw a decrease in net foreign assets in Portugal of €389 million (Chart 4). This was mostly due to an increase in liabilities with the investment of non-residents in both Portuguese government debt securities and non-financial corporations’ equity. These movements were partly offset by a reduction in liabilities, due to the decrease in deposits of non-residents in resident banks and Banco de Portugal’s liabilities vis-à-vis the Eurosystem.
Next update: 22 Apr. 2019