Monthly developments in April 2002

Looking at month-on-month developments on the basis of seasonally adjusted data, the values of exports and imports of goods declined in April 2002 compared with the previous month by 7.9% and 7.7% respectively, reversing the upward movement observed in February and March. Net direct investment in the euro area by non-residents amounted to EUR 14.3 billion, which is similar to the monthly flows registered in this category the previous year. However, the most important aspect in the direct investment account in April was the low net investment abroad by euro area residents. A further noteworthy development occurred in other investment. "Other" sectors increased their assets abroad (mainly loans and deposits) in this account by EUR 22.0 billion in April.

Note on balance of payments statistics produced by the Eurosystem

Euro-indicators News Releases The results up to March 2002 will also be published in the June 2002 issue of the

The euro area current account deficit decreased to EUR 5.8 billion in April 2002 from EUR 6.7 billion in April 2001. This decrease was the result of an increase in the goods surplus from EUR 3.1 billion to EUR 8.2 billion - which more than offset increases in the deficit on current transfers of EUR 1.5 billion and in the income deficit of EUR 0.9 billion and of services, which went from a surplus of EUR 1.6 billion to a small deficit of EUR 0.1 billion. The further year-on-year increase in the goods surplus was due to a continuing decrease in import values, while export values began to rise in April. During the first four months of 2002, the cumulated current account deficit decreased to EUR 1.5 billion, compared with EUR 17.2 billion over the same period last year. In the financial account, combined direct and portfolio investment in the euro area experienced net inflows of EUR 19.3 billion in April 2002. Net inflows both in direct investment (EUR 7.7 billion) and in portfolio investment (EUR 11.5 billion) contributed to this development. The net inflows in the portfolio investment account primarily reflect net portfolio investment of non-residents in the euro area (EUR 20.0 billion), while net portfolio investment abroad by euro area residents was substantially lower than in most previous months (EUR 8.5 billion). The most salient feature in the portfolio investment account in April was the large net inflows in money market instruments (EUR 10.8 billion). The net inflows in this category by non-residents in April were EUR 7.8 billion, while euro area residents repatriated capital from abroad previously invested in this category to the tune of EUR 3.0 billion. Overall, the net inflows in combined direct and portfolio investment in April 2002 were among the highest over the past twelve months. On a cumulated basis, net outflows in this category were substantially lower in the first four months of 2002 (EUR 35.2 billion) than during the same period in 2001 (EUR 97.5 billion). This decrease in net outflows in the financial account is due to a reduction of net outflows both in direct investment from EUR 39.8 billion to EUR 3.7 billion and in portfolio investment from EUR 57.7 billion to EUR 31.5 billion between the first four months of 2001 and the same period in 2002. The methodology used was developed in close co-operation with the European Commission (Eurostat), which publishes the Balance of Payments for the European Union (   ). The ECB compiles balance of payments statistics on the basis of the data on extra-euro area transactions reported by euro area Member States.

ECB Monthly Bulletin

Annexes

. A detailed methodological note is available on the ECB's website.

Table 1 Table 2

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: Monthly balance of payments of the euro area for 2001 and 2002. : Euro area current account - seasonally adjusted data. Reproduction is permitted provided that the source is acknowledged