Bank of Spain reports Spain's net international investment debtor position narrowed to 42.7 percent of GDP in first quarter 2026

The Bank of Spain has published Spain's first-quarter 2026 balance of payments and international investment position data, showing that the country's net international investment position remained at historically low debtor levels. Spain's net debtor position improved to 42.7 percent of GDP, or EUR 731 billion, from 44.7 percent in the previous quarter. Gross external debt increased to 166.9 percent of GDP from 163.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025, while the four-quarter financing capacity eased to 3.8 percent of GDP from 4.1 percent a year earlier. Excluding the Bank of Spain, the net debtor position improved to 32.6 percent of GDP from 36.6 percent in the previous quarter, broadly in line with the 2024-2025 average of 34.3 percent. The improvement reflected positive transactions of EUR 41.5 billion and other flows of EUR 18.7 billion, mainly a positive exchange-rate effect of EUR 14.2 billion. By instrument, the portfolio investment debtor position narrowed slightly to 25.3 percent of GDP, direct investment stood at 13 percent, and the creditor balance in other investment rose to 5.4 percent. By sector, monetary financial institutions moved to a creditor position of 3.3 percent of GDP from a debtor position of 0.8 percent. In the external accounts, the current account stood at 2.8 percent of GDP, with a slightly smaller tourism surplus, a larger non-tourism services surplus and a wider goods deficit than a year earlier. The Bank of Spain said the April 2026 balance of payments advance will be published on June 30, 2026. Second-quarter 2026 balance of payments and international investment position data are due on September 23, 2026, when revisions will also be made to the balance of payments and international investment position from the first quarter of 2023 and to the fourth-quarter 2022 international investment position.