Statistical Press Release | Lisboa, 21st February 2013 |
Banco de Portugal publishes the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position statistics for
2012
The Banco de Portugal publishes today in the statistical bulletin and on BPstat | Statistics online the statistics of the
balance of payment and the international investment position related to 2012. A short synthesis of the main results is
presented.
Main results
In 2012, the net external lending of the Portuguese economy, measured by the global surplus of the current and
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capital accounts, was of 1.3 billion euro, which corresponds to 0.8 per cent of GDP . This surplus occurs after an
upward trend observed since 2009 (chart 1), mainly influenced by the evolution of the international trade in goods.
Chart 1. Current and capital account
10
2.3
8
6
4
2
1.2
1.7
2.3
4.5
5.2
0.8
in % GDP
0
-2
-5.2
-4
-6
-8
-8.3
-4.6
-5.8
-6.9
-6.8
-3.9
-8.9
-10
-9.2
-9.9
-12
-9.4
-10.1
-11.1
-4.9
-14
-16
-18
2002
Goods
2003
Services
2004
Income
2005
2006
Current transfers
2007
2008
Capital account
2009
2010
2011
2012
Net external borrowing requirements
This evolution resulted in the financial account on an increase of the Portuguese net external assets of 1.8 billion
euro, which represents 1.1 per cent of the GDP (chart 2), in contrast with the previous year’s reduction of 9.7 billion
euro.
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The GDP estimate for 2012 was computed by Banco de Portugal on the basis of information disseminated by Statistics Portugal, namely the
volume change for the 4th quarter.
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Statistical Press Release | Lisboa, 21st February 2013 |
Chart 2. Financial account by institutional sector *
30.0
25.0
20.0
as % GDP
15.0
10.0
6.7
11.1
9.5
6.7
9.1
5.0
10.4
9.0
8.5
5.7
4.4
0.0
-1.1
-5.0
-10.0
-15.0
-20.0
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Monetary Authorities
Other Monetary Financial Institutions
Other resident sectors
Financial account
2010
2011
2012
General Government
* A positive value corresponds to a net increase of liabilities or to a net decrease of assets.
A negative value corresponds to a net decrease of liabilities or a net increase of assets.
In 2012, the Portuguese international investment position, measured by the difference between the end-of-period
stocks of the financial assets and liabilities, decreased 11.2 percentage points (p.p.) when compared to the position
observed at the end of 2011, standing at -192.8 billion euro, which means, -116.1 per cent of GDP (chart 3). This
evolution is justified, especially, by a negative price variation, brought about by the appreciation of the debt securities
issued by the General Government and held by non residents, which was not offset by the increase of net assets
observed in the financial account.
At the end of 2012 the net external debt stood at 164.6 billion euro, equivalent to 99.1 per cent of GDP, that is,
12.8 p.p. higher than the one observed at the end of 2011.
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Statistical Press Release | Lisboa, 21st February 2013 |
Chart 3. International investment position
40%
20%
0%
in %GDP
-20%
-40%
-55.4%
-60%
-58.2%
-63.1%
-67.4%
-78.8%
-80%
-88.9%
-100%
-96.1%
-104.9%
-110.6%
-120%
-107.2%
-116.1%
-140%
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Monetary Authorities
Other monetary financial institutions
Other resident sectors
International investment position
2009
2010
2011
2012
General Government
Current and capital account
In 2012, the evolution of the current and capital accounts presents in 2012 was significantly different from the one
observed in the previous years.
Chart 4. Current and capital account: 2010-2012
4.0
2.0
1.3
0.0
-2.0
Billion euro
-4.0
-6.0
-8.0
-10.0
-9.9
-12.0
-14.0
-16.0
-16.3
-18.0
Jan
Feb
Mar
2010
Apr
May
Jun
2011
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
2012
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Statistical Press Release | Lisboa, 21st February 2013 |
The surplus of the current and capital accounts increased of 6.6 p.p. of GDP compared with the value observed in
2011. This increase is brought about by the reduction of the deficits of the goods account, by 3.1 p.p., and of the
income account, by 1.1 p.p., and also of the increase of the surpluses of the services account, the current transfers
account and of the capital account by 0.7 p.p., 0.5 p.p. and 1.1 p.p., respectively (chart 5).
Chart 5. Current and capital account – decomposition of the annual variation of the total surplus
7
6.6
6
5
3.7
in % GDP
4
3
3.1
2
0.6
1
0
0.7
1.1
1.1
0.5
1.0
-1
-2
-3
2009
2010
Goods
Income
Capital account
2011
2012
Services
Current transfers
Year-on-year rate of change
The deficit of the goods account decreased almost 40 per cent: from -14.2 billion euro in 2011 to -8.6 billion euro in
2012. This behavior resulted from the growth of exports, by 5.7 per cent, as from the decrease of imports, by 5.5 per
cent.
The services account surplus increased nearly one billion euro (from 7.7 billion euro in 2011 to 8.7 billion euro in
2012), mainly due to the contribution of travel. The expenditures of foreign tourists in Portugal increased 5.6 per cent
in 2012.
The account of goods and services presented a surplus of 111 million euro in 2012, which compares to a deficit of
-6.5 billion euro in 2011.
Regarding current transfers, in 2012 it was observed an increase of the emigrant remittances of 13.1 per cent, along
with a decrease in remittances from migrants of 10.3 per cent.
Financial account
In 2012, the net external lending of the Portuguese economy translated, at the financial account level, into an
increase of the net external assets. Within this context, it is worth mentioning the increase of the liabilities of the
General Government, mainly associated to the loans obtained by Portugal in the scope of the Financial and
Economic Assistance Program, which was partly counterbalanced by the amortization of public debt securities held
by non residents. The other financial monetary institutions recorded redemption of liabilities, both in the form of
securities and in the form of loans and deposits, which was partially offset by a decrease in assets of foreign
securities. The non monetary financial institutions presented an amortization of liabilities associated to securities held
by non residents.
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