Financial statements

Balance sheet shrinks further
In 2024, total assets and liabilities shrank by 3.9% year on year, coming down to EUR 236.9 billion. This reflected a decline in the volume of longer-term refinancing operations (asset side) and in credit institutions’ deposits (liability side).

Gold yields strong valuation gains
Because of higher gold prices, valuation gains on gold rose steeply against the previous year (+39.7%), reaching a high of EUR 20.4 billion. At about 280 tons of fine gold, our gold holdings remained unchanged. The value of gold and gold receivables increased by EUR 5.8 billion to EUR 22.6 billion.


Banknotes in circulation on the rise
The item banknotes in circulation reflects the value of euro banknotes in circulation allocated to the OeNB. In 2024, this value rose by 3.2% against the previous year, reaching EUR 43.2 billion.

Operating result still affected by monetary policy
At –EUR 2.1 billion, our operating result in 2024 was similar to that recorded in 2023. The result was driven by net interest income that was still deeply in the red. Why? Because securities held for monetary policy purposes could only generate small interest income, while higher interest payments on banks’ deposits caused large costs. Including the loss carried forward from the previous year, this situation resulted in a balance sheet loss of –EUR 4.2 billion.

OeNB indicators over the past five years
  2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
 
                                                                                                 EUR million
Net currency position 27,321 22,260 25,113 24,148 23,263
     of which: gold and gold receivables 22,605 16,814 15,358 14,489 13,898
Banknotes in circulation 43,203 41,861 42,327 41,583 38,624
Total assets 236,901 246,509 261,406 275,197 228,662
 
Staff costs 195 182 170 165 161
Administrative expenses 106 99 86 81 83
Operating result -2,122 -2,211 – 94 10
Corporate income tax 0 0 0 24 0
Transfer to the pension reserve – – – 7 1
Central government’s share of profit – – – 57 8
Profit/loss for the year -4,184 -2,062 – 6 1
 
Staff in full-time equivalents (FTEs)1 1,149.3 1,132.2 1,129.3 1,133.2 1,097.5
 
Source: OeNB.
1 Excluding interns and employees on secondment or leave (such as maternity and parental leave). Figures include part-time employees on a pro rata basis.