The current account surplus of the Netherlands’ balance of payments was €24.8 billion in the second quarter of 2024, almost the same as the corresponding period last year, new figures from DNB show. Underlying, the trade balance rose, mainly driven by falling energy import prices. This is counterbalanced by the fact that the Netherlands received less in profits from abroad.
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The current account records imports and exports of goods and services, as well as cross-border income flows such as profits, wages and interest. It is part of the balance of payments, which reflects all transactions between the Netherlands and foreign countries in a given period, and thus provides an impression of the economic situation in the Netherlands. For more information, see also our Balance of Payments dashboard.
At De Nederlandsche Bank, we independently compile statistics on the Dutch financial sector and economy. This article is based on these statistics. More information on our statistics and all dashboards can be found on our Statistics homepage.
The export surplus rose by €5.8 billion in the second quarter compared to the year-earlier period, to reach €34.2 billion.
Remarkably, goods import prices fell by 4.3%, while the volume of goods imports receded by a mere 1.8%. This drop in value occurred in particular for natural gas and electricity, whose prices fell sharply. As the Netherlands is a net importer of energy, this boosted the export surplus.
This is the fifth quarter in a row that saw the value of both imports and exports of goods fall. The decline was mainly in trade with neighbouring countries, such as Germany and France (imports) and the United Kingdom and Belgium (exports).
The primary income balance, which includes cross-border wages, dividends and interest, came in at a negative €8.5 billion in the second quarter, €5.2 billion lower than a year earlier. Some €3 billion reflect cross-border wages. For many years now, Dutch companies have consistently paid higher wages to foreign workers than foreign companies pay to Dutch households.
Profits made by foreign subsidiaries distributed to Dutch firms fell by €5.3 billion, whereas Dutch firms distributed €1.5 billion more in profits to foreign owners than in the same quarter last year.
The interest rate environment had a positive impact on the current account balance in the second quarter, with income increasing by €2.0 billion and payments decreasing by €1.2 billion compared to a year earlier.
The net external asset position is the balance of all receivables Dutch parties have with parties abroad, and the receivables foreign parties have with Dutch parties.
This net external asset position of the Netherlands was €469.4 billion in mid-2024, 4.7% lower than a quarter earlier. One of the reasons for the decline was stock market developments: rallying share prices caused an increase in foreign owners' claims on Dutch non-financial companies to the tune of €34.8 billion.
Similarly, there was a sharp decline of €37 billion in De Nederlandsche Bank's (DNB) claim on other central banks, also known as the TARGET2 balance. This has also depressed the net international investment position.
DNB's monetary gold is also part of external assets. The sharp rise in gold prices boosted its value by €2.6 billion, to €43.1 billion.
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