Balance of payments – commentary

January 2026

The current account surplus amounted to CZK 29.2 billion in January. The goods and services balance ended in a surplus of CZK 38.1 billion. Direct investment dividends totalling CZK 0.3 billion were recorded on the debit side of the primary income balance. Income and capital transfers include a positive balance of transactions vis-à-vis EU institutions, totalling CZK 16.1 billion.

Current account
(CZK billions)

Net capital outflows on the financial account (net lending) reached CZK 36.0 billion in January. Transaction growth in assets to non-residents amounted to CZK 67.1 billion amid a simultaneous rise in liabilities to non-residents of CZK 31.1 billion. Foreign direct investment recorded a net capital inflow of CZK 34.0 billion, driven by both the balance of flows in debt instruments (CZK 20.5 billion) and the balance of flows into equity capital (CZK 13.5 billion). Portfolio investment recorded a net capital outflow of CZK 79.3 billion, with liabilities decreasing by CZK 80.1 billion due to transactions, while the volume of assets declined by CZK 0.8 billion. A decrease in non-resident holdings of debt securities issued by domestic commercial banks (CZK 131.4 billion) was the dominant factor behind the portfolio investment outflow, while the rise in non-resident holdings of general government debt securities (CZK 38.5 billion) acted in the opposite direction.

Direct and portfolio investment
(CZK billions)

Other investment recorded a net capital inflow of CZK 27.0 billion amid transaction growth in both liabilities to non-residents (CZK 74.6 billion) and assets to non-residents (CZK 47.6 billion) in this functional category. The growth in the volume of liabilities was due primarily to the rise in non-resident deposits with resident commercial banks amounting to CZK 97.2 billion, whereas non-resident deposits with the central bank decreased by CZK 25.8 billion. On the asset side, the growth was driven mainly by the increasing volume of loans granted by domestic commercial banks to non-residents (CZK 43.7 billion) and by the rise in the central bank’s deposits with non-residents (CZK 8.8 billion). International reserves increased by CZK 21.1 billion in January owing to transactions.