South Africa | Current account balance (BoP, current US$)
Current account balance is the sum of net exports of goods and services, net primary income, and net secondary income. Data are in current U.S. dollars. Development relevance: The balance of payments records an economy’s transactions with the rest of the world. Balance of payments accounts are divided into two groups: the current account, which records transactions in goods, services, primary income, and secondary income, and the capital and financial account, which records capital transfers, acquisition or disposal of nonproduced, nonfinancial assets, and transactions in financial assets and liabilities. The current account balance is one of the most analytically useful indicators of an external imbalance. A primary purpose of the balance of payments accounts is to indicate the need to adjust an external imbalance. Where to draw the line for analytical purposes requires a judgment concerning the imbalance that best indicates the need for adjustment. There are a number of definitions in common use for this and related analytical purposes. The trade balance is the difference between exports and imports of goods. From an analytical view it is arbitrary to distinguish goods from services. For example, a unit of foreign exchange earned by a freight company strengthens the balance of payments to the same extent as the foreign exchange earned by a goods exporter. Even so, the trade balance is useful because it is often the most timely indicator of trends in the current account balance. Customs authorities are typically able to provide data on trade in goods long before data on trade in services are available. Limitations and exceptions: Discrepancies may arise in the balance of payments because there is no single source for balance of payments data and therefore no way to ensure that the data are fully consistent. Sources include customs data, monetary accounts of the banking system, external debt records, information provided by enterprises, surveys to estimate service transactions, and foreign exchange records. Differences in collection methods - such as in timing, definitions of residence and ownership, and the exchange rate used to value transactions - contribute to net errors and omissions. In addition, smuggling and other illegal or quasi-legal transactions may be unrecorded or misrecorded. 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
Republic of South Africa
Records
63
Source
South Africa | Current account balance (BoP, current US$)
48999980.419608 1960
270199892.02812 1961
429799828.25199 1962
194599922.23787 1963
-160999935.66443 1964
-516599793.56672 1965
-146999941.25882 1966
-375199850.07014 1967
-19599992.167843 1968
-480199808.11216 1969
-1289399484.756 1970
-1488132777.6411 1971
-192051956.95608 1972
-258394951.47319 1973
-1437709300.0914 1974
-2397131175.7379 1975
-1912449998.337 1976
239199999.792 1977
1099399999.044 1978
2965045476.4211 1979
3161391216.189 1980
-4978365548.892 1981
-3525807428.4798 1982
-323223987.9766 1983
-1951775969.2433 1984
2261355818.8197 1985
2765954425.4599 1986
5104704864.4222 1987
2533618988.8443 1988
1497993501.8664 1989
1551571060.8391 1990
1399119919.3386 1991
1980166934.3549 1992
2803148534.3134 1993
29620519.257056 1994
-2493247873.0285 1995
-1678190241.8336 1996
-2227357021.2498 1997
-2199125544.6014 1998
-675246561.6952 1999
-190556634.77189 2000
342639131.12158 2001
1009383967.4192 2002
-1541574878.8242 2003
-6413747384.1101 2004
-8015417922.7641 2005
-12154724637.793 2006
-16193848408.825 2007
-16395139537.11 2008
-7863255557.7019 2009
-5421631418.057 2010
-9254146535.6964 2011
-20346176599.846 2012
-21400789698.602 2013
-18344938660.438 2014
-14944186632.132 2015
-8521994957.0095 2016
-9056996805.8975 2017
-12159926617.737 2018
-10200410538.59 2019
6701380493.3892 2020
15500460921.842 2021
-1697574274.8606 2022
South Africa | Current account balance (BoP, current US$)
Current account balance is the sum of net exports of goods and services, net primary income, and net secondary income. Data are in current U.S. dollars. Development relevance: The balance of payments records an economy’s transactions with the rest of the world. Balance of payments accounts are divided into two groups: the current account, which records transactions in goods, services, primary income, and secondary income, and the capital and financial account, which records capital transfers, acquisition or disposal of nonproduced, nonfinancial assets, and transactions in financial assets and liabilities. The current account balance is one of the most analytically useful indicators of an external imbalance. A primary purpose of the balance of payments accounts is to indicate the need to adjust an external imbalance. Where to draw the line for analytical purposes requires a judgment concerning the imbalance that best indicates the need for adjustment. There are a number of definitions in common use for this and related analytical purposes. The trade balance is the difference between exports and imports of goods. From an analytical view it is arbitrary to distinguish goods from services. For example, a unit of foreign exchange earned by a freight company strengthens the balance of payments to the same extent as the foreign exchange earned by a goods exporter. Even so, the trade balance is useful because it is often the most timely indicator of trends in the current account balance. Customs authorities are typically able to provide data on trade in goods long before data on trade in services are available. Limitations and exceptions: Discrepancies may arise in the balance of payments because there is no single source for balance of payments data and therefore no way to ensure that the data are fully consistent. Sources include customs data, monetary accounts of the banking system, external debt records, information provided by enterprises, surveys to estimate service transactions, and foreign exchange records. Differences in collection methods - such as in timing, definitions of residence and ownership, and the exchange rate used to value transactions - contribute to net errors and omissions. In addition, smuggling and other illegal or quasi-legal transactions may be unrecorded or misrecorded. 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
Republic of South Africa
Records
63
Source