Bahamas, The | Computer, communications and other services (% of commercial service exports)
Computer, communications and other services (% of commercial service exports) include such activities as international telecommunications, and postal and courier services; computer data; news-related service transactions between residents and nonresidents; construction services; royalties and license fees; miscellaneous business, professional, and technical services; and personal, cultural, and recreational services. Development relevance: Trade in services differs from trade in goods because services are produced and consumed at the same time. Thus services to a traveler may be consumed in the producing country (for example, use of a hotel room) but are classified as imports of the traveler's country. In other cases services may be supplied from a remote location; for example, insurance services may be supplied from one location and consumed in another. Limitations and exceptions: Balance of payments statistics, the main source of information on international trade in services, have many weaknesses. Disaggregation of important components may be limited and varies considerably across countries. There are inconsistencies in the methods used to report items. And the recording of major flows as net items is common (for example, insurance transactions are often recorded as premiums less claims). These factors contribute to a downward bias in the value of the service trade reported in the balance of payments. Efforts are being made to improve the coverage, quality, and consistency of these data. Eurostat and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, for example, are working together to improve the collection of statistics on trade in services in member countries. Still, difficulties in capturing all the dimensions of international trade in services mean that the record is likely to remain incomplete. Cross-border intrafirm service transactions, which are usually not captured in the balance of payments, have increased in recent years. An example is transnational corporations' use of mainframe computers around the clock for data processing, exploiting time zone differences between their home country and the host countries of their affiliates. Another important dimension of service trade not captured by conventional balance of payments statistics is establishment trade - sales in the host country by foreign affiliates. By contrast, cross-border intrafirm transactions in merchandise may be reported as exports or imports in the balance of payments. Statistical concept and methodology: The balance of payments (BoP) is a double-entry accounting system that shows all flows of goods and services into and out of an economy; all transfers that are the counterpart of real resources or financial claims provided to or by the rest of the world without a quid pro quo, such as donations and grants; and all changes in residents' claims on and liabilities to nonresidents that arise from economic transactions. All transactions are recorded twice - once as a credit and once as a debit. In principle the net balance should be zero, but in practice the accounts often do not balance, requiring inclusion of a balancing item, net errors and omissions. The concepts and definitions underlying the data are based on the sixth edition of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Balance of Payments Manual (BPM6). Balance of payments data for 2005 onward will be presented in accord with the BPM6. The historical BPM5 data series will end with data for 2008, which can be accessed through the World Development Indicators archives. The complete balance of payments methodology can be accessed through the International Monetary Fund website (www.imf.org/external/np/sta/bop/bop.htm).
Publisher
The World Bank
Origin
Commonwealth of The Bahamas
Records
63
Source
Bahamas, The | Computer, communications and other services (% of commercial service exports)
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
10.12362958 1976
15.02764613 1977
8.63411182 1978
8.92523364 1979
14.26812585 1980
13.4754522 1981
12.32894397 1982
8.79798903 1983
7.68375403 1984
6.78564957 1985
5.11330622 1986
5.48296593 1987
6.11968805 1988
7.08044383 1989
6.29991127 1990
6.61031148 1991
6.37672642 1992
7.68586972 1993
7.85287603 1994
8.1570997 1995
7.64936148 1996
6.63657746 1997
6.91633151 1998
7.59322797 1999
7.88364683 2000
4.40853556 2001
10.71717744 2002
10.55680737 2003
12.2580616 2004
13.56175108 2005
12.04024651 2006
12.53555481 2007
11.9072038 2008
9.42525583 2009
7.78243226 2010
7.05583771 2011
8.03811344 2012
8.30819408 2013
8.98626899 2014
7.17078177 2015
6.1677315 2016
4.80038087 2017
6.57869146 2018
4.69367492 2019
17.22081863 2020
9.01471558 2021
6.1604286 2022
Bahamas, The | Computer, communications and other services (% of commercial service exports)
Computer, communications and other services (% of commercial service exports) include such activities as international telecommunications, and postal and courier services; computer data; news-related service transactions between residents and nonresidents; construction services; royalties and license fees; miscellaneous business, professional, and technical services; and personal, cultural, and recreational services. Development relevance: Trade in services differs from trade in goods because services are produced and consumed at the same time. Thus services to a traveler may be consumed in the producing country (for example, use of a hotel room) but are classified as imports of the traveler's country. In other cases services may be supplied from a remote location; for example, insurance services may be supplied from one location and consumed in another. Limitations and exceptions: Balance of payments statistics, the main source of information on international trade in services, have many weaknesses. Disaggregation of important components may be limited and varies considerably across countries. There are inconsistencies in the methods used to report items. And the recording of major flows as net items is common (for example, insurance transactions are often recorded as premiums less claims). These factors contribute to a downward bias in the value of the service trade reported in the balance of payments. Efforts are being made to improve the coverage, quality, and consistency of these data. Eurostat and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, for example, are working together to improve the collection of statistics on trade in services in member countries. Still, difficulties in capturing all the dimensions of international trade in services mean that the record is likely to remain incomplete. Cross-border intrafirm service transactions, which are usually not captured in the balance of payments, have increased in recent years. An example is transnational corporations' use of mainframe computers around the clock for data processing, exploiting time zone differences between their home country and the host countries of their affiliates. Another important dimension of service trade not captured by conventional balance of payments statistics is establishment trade - sales in the host country by foreign affiliates. By contrast, cross-border intrafirm transactions in merchandise may be reported as exports or imports in the balance of payments. Statistical concept and methodology: The balance of payments (BoP) is a double-entry accounting system that shows all flows of goods and services into and out of an economy; all transfers that are the counterpart of real resources or financial claims provided to or by the rest of the world without a quid pro quo, such as donations and grants; and all changes in residents' claims on and liabilities to nonresidents that arise from economic transactions. All transactions are recorded twice - once as a credit and once as a debit. In principle the net balance should be zero, but in practice the accounts often do not balance, requiring inclusion of a balancing item, net errors and omissions. The concepts and definitions underlying the data are based on the sixth edition of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Balance of Payments Manual (BPM6). Balance of payments data for 2005 onward will be presented in accord with the BPM6. The historical BPM5 data series will end with data for 2008, which can be accessed through the World Development Indicators archives. The complete balance of payments methodology can be accessed through the International Monetary Fund website (www.imf.org/external/np/sta/bop/bop.htm).
Publisher
The World Bank
Origin
Commonwealth of The Bahamas
Records
63
Source