Global| Sep 19 2019U.S. Current Account Deficit Narrows as Income Surplus Increases
Summary
The U.S. current account deficit narrowed to $130.4 billion during Q1'19 from $143.9 billion during Q4'18....... The surplus on primary income rose modestly to $61.1 billion, down versus the record high of $66.4 billion reached one [...]
The U.S. current account deficit narrowed to $130.4 billion during Q1'19 from $143.9 billion during Q4'18.......
The surplus on primary income rose modestly to $61.1 billion, down versus the record high of $66.4 billion reached one year earlier. The deficit on secondary income widened to a record $36.9 billion.
Balance of Payments data are in Haver's USINT database, with summaries available in USECON. The expectations figure is in the AS1REPNA database.
| US Balance of Payments SA | Q2'19 | Q1'19 | Q4'18 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current Account Balance ($ Billion) | -128.2 | -136.2 | -143.9 | -491.0 | -439.6 | -428.3 |
| Deficit % of GDP | -2.4 | -2.6 | -2.8 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.3 |
| Balance on Goods ($ Billion) | -223.3 | -216.7 | -232.3 | -887.3 | -805.2 | -749.8 |
| Exports (% Chg) | -1.1 | 0.5 | -0.6 | 7.8 | 6.6 | -3.6 |
| Imports (% Chg) | 0.3 | -2.1 | 0.3 | 8.6 | 6.9 | -2.9 |
| Balance on Services ($ Billion) | 60.0 | 60.3 | 61.2 | 259.7 | 255.1 | 246.8 |
| Exports (% Chg) | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 3.5 | 5.3 | 0.4 |
| Imports (% Chg) | 0.1 | 1.4 | 2.4 | 4.3 | 6.3 | 4.0 |
| Balance on Primary Income ($ Billion) | 67.6 | 56.9 | 60.1 | 254.0 | 225.8 | 198.7 |
| Balance on Secondary Income ($ Billion) | -32.5 | -36.6 | -32.8 | -117.3 | -115.3 | -124.0 |
Gerald D. Cohen
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Gerald Cohen provides strategic vision and leadership of the translational economic research and policy initiatives at the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.
He has worked in both the public and private sectors focusing on the intersection between financial markets and economic fundamentals. He was a Senior Economist at Haver Analytics from January 2019 to February 2021. During the Obama Administration Gerald was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Macroeconomic Analysis at the U.S. Department of Treasury where he helped formulate and evaluate the impact of policy proposals on the U.S. economy. Prior to Treasury, he co-managed a global macro fund at Ziff Brothers Investments.
Gerald holds a bachelor’s of science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University and is a contributing author to 30-Second Money as well as a co-author of Political Cycles and the Macroeconomy.
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