News Release
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U.S. International Transactions, 2nd quarter 2016
Current Account Balance The U.S. current-account deficit decreased to $119.9 billion (preliminary) in the second quarter of 2016 from $131.8 billion (revised) in the first quarter of 2016, according to statistics released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). The deficit decreased to 2.6 percent of current-dollar gross domestic product (GDP) from 2.9 percent in the first quarter. The $12.0 billion decrease in the deficit reflected an $8.9 billion increase in the surplus on primary income to $42.9 billion, a $3.1 billion decrease in the deficit on secondary income to $37.6 billion, and a $0.4 billion increase in the surplus on services to $61.5 billion. These changes were partly offset by a $0.5 billion increase in the deficit on goods to $186.7 billion. Current Account Transactions (tables 1-5) Exports of goods and services and income receipts Exports of goods and services and income receipts increased $18.0 billion in the second quarter to $777.0 billion. * Primary income receipts increased $10.4 billion to $198.9 billion, primarily reflecting an increase in direct investment income. * Goods exports increased $6.1 billion to $360.2 billion, reflecting increases in industrial supplies and materials, primarily in petroleum and products, and foods, feeds, and beverages. A decrease in consumer goods except food and automotive partly offset these increases. Imports of goods and services and income payments Imports of goods and services and income payments increased $6.1 billion to $896.9 billion. * Goods imports increased $6.5 billion to $546.9 billion, reflecting increases in imports of industrial supplies and materials, largely in energy products, and capital goods except automotive. These increases were partly offset by a decrease in imports of consumer goods, except food and automotive, particularly other household goods, including cell phones. * Primary income payments increased $1.4 billion to $155.9 billion, reflecting an increase in direct investment income. * Secondary income payments decreased $2.4 billion to $69.8 billion, reflecting a decrease in U.S. government transfers, both in U.S. government grants and in U.S. government pensions and other transfers. Financial Account (tables 1, 6, 7, and 8) Net U.S. borrowing measured by financial-account transactions was $31.1 billion in the second quarter, a $14.3 billion decrease from net borrowing of $45.4 billion in the first quarter. An increase in net U.S. acquisition of financial assets excluding financial derivatives was mostly offset by an increase in net U.S. incurrence of liabilities excluding financial derivatives. Net transactions in financial derivatives other than reserves reflected more net lending in the second quarter than in the first quarter. Financial assets Net U.S. acquisition of financial assets excluding financial derivatives increased $233.8 billion to $293.7 billion. * Transactions in portfolio investment assets increased $167.3 billion to net U.S. acquisition of $109.9 billion, as a shift to net acquisition of equity and investment fund shares more than offset a shift to net sales of debt securities. * Net U.S. acquisition of direct investment assets increased $38.7 billion to $106.1 billion, largely reflecting an increase in net acquisition of equity. * Net U.S acquisition of other investment assets increased $26.5 billion to $77.5 billion, as a shift to net provision of loans to foreigners exceeded a shift to net withdrawal of U.S. residents’ deposits abroad (in currency and deposits). Liabilities Net U.S. incurrence of liabilities excluding financial derivatives increased $232.2 billion to $350.4 billion. * Net U.S. incurrence of other investment liabilities increased $143.9 billion to $192.0 billion, mostly reflecting a shift to net incurrence of deposit liabilities in currency and deposits. * Net U.S. incurrence of direct investment liabilities increased $68.3 billion to $159.6 billion, reflecting increases in net incurrence of both equity and debt instrument liabilities. Financial derivatives Transactions in financial derivatives other than reserves reflected second-quarter net lending of $25.6 billion, a $12.6 billion increase from the first quarter. Statistical Discrepancy (table 1) The statistical discrepancy increased $2.3 billion in the second quarter to $88.8 billion. * * * Revisions Revisions to First-Quarter 2016 International Transactions Accounts Aggregates [Billions of dollars, seasonally adjusted] Estimate Preliminary Revised Current-account balance -124.7 -131.8 Goods balance -186.4 -186.3 Services balance 64.6 61.1 Primary-income balance 37.5 34.0 Secondary-income balance -40.3 -40.6 Net lending from financial-account transactions -35.0 -45.4 Statistical discrepancy 89.6 86.5 * * * Next release: December 15, 2016 at 8:30 A.M. EST U.S. International Transactions, Third Quarter 2016 * * * ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Updated Statistics on U.S. International Services and New Geographic Detail BEA will release its most detailed annual statistics on trade in services in October. This year's release will include expanded geographic detail and statistics on information and communications technology (ICT) and potentially ICT-enabled services. For more information, see Updated Statistics on U.S. International Services and New Geographic Detail (www.bea.gov/international/international_services_statistics_2016.htm). ______________________________________________________________________________________________