The current account is a country'strade balanceplus net income and direct payments. The trade balance is a country's imports and exportsof goods and services. The current account also measures international transfers ofcapital.
A current account is in balance when the country's residents have enough to fund all purchases in the country. Residents include the people, businesses, and government. Funds include income and savings. Purchases include all consumer spending as well asbusiness growth and government infrastructure spending.
The goal for most countries is to accumulate money by exporting more goods and services than they import. That’s called a trade surplus. It means a country will take in more earnings than it spends.A deficit occurs when a country's government, businesses, and individuals export fewer goods andservices than they import. They take in lesscapital from foreigners than they send out.
The current account is part of a country'sbalance of payments. The other two parts are thecapital accountsandfinancial accounts.
Key Takeaways
- The nation’s current account is its imports, exports, net income, asset income, and direct transfers.
- A positive current account means the nation earns more than it spends.
- A negative account means it spends more than it earns.
- The trade balance (exports minus imports) is the largest component of a current account surplus or deficit.
- Nations with negative current accounts may signal a solvency problem. Since the second half of 1991, the U.S. current account has been negative.
The FourCurrent Account Components
The current account can be divided into four components: trade,net income, direct transfers of capital, and asset income.
1. Trade:Trade in goods and services is the largest component of the current account. Atrade deficitalone can be enough to create a current account deficit. A deficit in goods and services is often large enough to offset any surplus in net income, direct transfers, and asset income.
2. Net Income:This is income received by the country’s residents minus income paid to foreigners. The country’s residents receive income from two sources. The first is earned on foreign assets owned by a nation's residents and businesses. That includes interest and dividends earned on investments held overseas. The second source is income earned by a country's residents who work overseas.
Income paid to foreigners is similar. The first category is interest and dividend payments to foreigners who own assets in the country. The second iswages paid to foreigners who work in the country.
If the income received by a country's individuals, businesses, and government from foreigners are more than the income paid out, then net income is positive. If it is less, then it contributes to a deficit.
3. Direct Transfers:This includes remittances from workers to their home country.For example,Mexicoreceived $36 billion from abroad in 2019. Although there are no exact figures, the majority is probably fromimmigrantsliving in the United States. On the campaign trail in 2016,then-candidate Donald Trumpthreatened to stop those payments if Mexico did not pay for the border wall he wanted to build, but that threat did not materialize during his time in office.
Direct transfers also include a government's direct foreign aid. A third direct transfer isforeign direct investments. That's when a country's residents or businesses invest in ventures overseas. To count as FDI, it has to be more than 10% of the foreign company's capital.
The fourth direct transfer is bank loans to foreigners.
4. Asset Income:This is composed of increases or decreases in assets like bank deposits, the central bank, and government reserves, securities, and real estate. For example, if a country’s assets perform well, asset income will be high. These include:
- A country's liabilities to foreigners such as deposits of foreign residents at the country's banks.
- Loans made by foreign banks abroad to domestic banks.
- Foreign private purchases of a country's government bonds, such as U.S. Treasury securities.
- Sales of the securities, such asstocksand bonds, made by a nation's businesses to foreigners.
- Foreign direct investment, such as reinvested earnings, equities, and debt.
- Other debts owed to foreigners.
- Assets, like those described, held by foreign governments.
- Net shipments of the country's currency to foreign governments.
Again, the opposite will add to asset income and subtract from the deficit. More specifically, this includes:
- Deposits at foreign banks.
- Bank loans to foreigners.
- Sales of foreign-based securities.
- A direct investment made in foreign countries.
- Debts owed to a country's residents and businesses by foreigners.
- Foreign assets owned by a country's government.
- A country's officialreserve assets of foreign currency.
How the Current Account IsPart ofthe Balance of Payments
Balance of Payments
- Current Account
- Current Account Deficit
U.S. Current Account Deficit - Trade Balance
- ImportsandExports
- U.S. Imports and Exports Summary
- U.S. Imports
U.S. Imports by Year for Top 5 Countries - U.S. Exports
- Trade Deficit
- The U.S. Trade Deficit
U.S. Trade Deficit by Country - U.S. Trade Deficit With China
- Capital Account
- Financial Account
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the difference between a current account and a capital account?
The current account offers a more holistic picture of a nation's trade balance, while the capital account is more tightly focused on financial investments. Foreign direct investments get recorded in a capital account, including equity investments in foreign stock.
When is a balance of payments in surplus?
A balance of payments becomes a surplus once total exports outnumber total imports. While the U.S. has an overall deficit in its international transactions, it does have a surplus in the services sector.
