Monthly Advance of the Balance of Payments. 12-month accumulated data
Balance of Payments, IIP, External Debt
Statistical press release
Main Balance of Payments Results
- The surplus of the current account stood at 2.5% of GDP, slightly below the accumulated level until March 2024.
- The tourism balance
increased to 4.3% of GDP in the twelve-month period, offsetting the decline in non-tourism goods and services.
- The financial account, excluding the Bank of Spain, showed an accumulated balance of 5.3% of GDP over twelve months, compared to 2.4% in the previous year.
Accumulated Financing Capacity
The financing capacity until March 2025 stood at 3.7% of GDP1 (59.5 billion euros, mm), the same percentage as a year earlier (56.4 mm), historically high, 1 percentage point above the average of the pre-COVID period 2014-2019. The current account surplus stood at 2.5% of GDP (41.1 mm) while the capital account surplus stood at 1.1% (18.4 mm), experiencing very slight variations downwards and upwards, respectively, compared to March 2024. The capital account balance was 0.7% above the pre-COVID period average2.
Accumulated Current Account by Components
The improvement in the tourism surplus, which stood at 4.3% of GDP, compared to 4.1% in March 2024 (69 mm and 61.6 mm, respectively), was achieved with a growth in revenues that continue to reach historical highs, at 6.2% of GDP (99.7 mm), compared to 5.8% of GDP (88.5 mm) a year earlier. The balance of non-tourism goods and services stood at -0.4% of GDP (0.1% a year earlier) and income balance at -1.3% (same percentage as in March 2024).
Functional Categories Accumulated Financial Account without Banco de España
The twelve-month accumulated financial account, excluding the Bank of Spain, was 5.3% of GDP (85.6 mm) until March 2025, compared to 2.4% (36.2 mm) in the previous year. This increase in the positive balance was mainly due to the variation in portfolio investment, which changed from -3.3% (-50.6 mm) in March 2024 to 1% of GDP (16.1 mm). Direct investment also contributed to this variation, with a balance of 1.4% of GDP (22.6 mm) up to March 2025, compared to -0.4% (-6.4mm) in March 2024. Other investment evolved in the opposite direction and presented a balance of 3.1% of GDP (43.3 mm), compared to 6.3% (96.2 mm) a year earlier.
Financial Account Accumulated by Institutional Sector
The sectors that contributed to the positive sign of the financial account were Other Monetary Financial Institutions and Other Resident Sectors, which recorded a higher balance than the previous year, at 5.4% of GDP (87.5 mm) and 4.2% of GDP (67.6 mm), respectively. The balance of the Bank of Spain stood at -1% of GDP (-16.4 mm), compared to 2% (29.7 mm) in March 2024. The balance of the Public Administrations was slightly more negative than a year earlier, at -4.3% of GDP (69.7 mm).
Monthly Financing Capacity. Main Components
The financing capacity in March 2025 was 2.3 mm, compared to 5.9 mm in the same month of the previous year. Non-tourism goods and services showed a deficit of -2 mm, compared to a surplus of 0.9 mm a year earlier. Both exports and imports remained at high levels, but slightly higher in the case of imports. Conversely, the tourism surplus increased slightly to 5.2 mm, due to the increase in revenues.
Additional Information
For more information on the conceptual framework, information sources, and methodology of the balance of payments and the international investment position, please visit the foreign sector statistics website of the Bank of Spain.
On the same website, you can find more detailed statistical information, with complete time series, on the balance of payments, international investment position, and external debt, than that provided in this press release. You can also access the interactive tool BExplore, which allows for the creation of graphs and flexible access to this information.
Next Monthly Data Release
The advance of the balance of payments for April 2025 will be published on June 30, 2025.
Next Quarterly Data Release
The balance of payments and the international investment position for the first quarter of 2025 will be published on June 23, 2025. This publication will review the balance of payments and the international investment position from the fourth quarter of 2024, as well as the international investment position of the third quarter of 2024.
Next Annual Additional Details Release
The additional annual details of the balance of payments and the international investment position will be updated on October 14, 2025. The annual detail by economic activity of Direct Investment will be reviewed for a longer period than usual, from 2013. For more information, please refer to the announcement on the statistics page.
BELab Banco de España
Microdata on Portfolio Investment and Foreign Direct Investment are made available to researchers through the Banco de España Data Lab (BELab). This resource is aimed at those interested in developing research projects for scientific purposes. For more information on how to request access to this data, please visit the following link.
