Taiwan (China) - Current Account Balance





Taiwan (China): Current Account Balance

Mnemonic TAB.ITWN
Unit Mil. USD, NSA
Adjustments Not Seasonally Adjusted
Quarterly 21.45 %
Data 2023 Q4 34,839
2023 Q3 28,686

Series Information

Source Central Bank of the Republic of China
Release Balance of Payments
Frequency Quarterly
Start Date 3/31/1984
End Date 12/31/2023

Taiwan (China): Trade

Reference Last Previous Units Frequency
Current Account Balance 2023 Q4 34,839 28,686 Mil. USD, NSA Quarterly
Exports of Goods and Services 2023 Q4 3,994,155 3,955,515 Mil. TWD, NSA Quarterly
Imports of Goods and Services 2023 Q4 2,988,765 3,001,171 Mil. TWD, NSA Quarterly
Net Exports 2023 Q4 1,005,390 954,344 Mil. TWD, NSA Quarterly
Real Exports of Goods and Services 2023 Q4 3,787,896 3,706,950 Mil. Ch. 2016 TWD, NSA Quarterly
Real Imports of Goods and Services 2023 Q4 2,764,585 2,773,408 Mil. Ch. 2016 TWD, NSA Quarterly
Real Net Exports 2023 Q4 1,023,311 933,542 Mil. Ch. 2016 TWD, NSA Quarterly

Release Information

 The balance of payments is a statistical statement that systematically summarizes, for a specific time period, the economic transactions of the residents of Taiwan, R.O.C. with the rest of the world. Transactions, for the most part between residents and nonresidents, consist of those involving goods, services, and income; those involving financial claims on, and liabilities to, the rest of the world; and those (such as gifts) classified as transfers, which involve offsetting entries to balance - in an accounting sense - one-sided transactions.

The data cover all transactions between Taiwan's residents and non-residents. The unit of currency used is millions of U.S. dollars. Data disseminated include: exports and imports of goods and services; receipts and payments of income; current transfers; capital transfers; direct, portfolio and other investments of the monetary authorities, general government, banking and other sectors; and the change in official reserve assets.

The basic data are obtained from the international transaction report records and various statistics prepared by government departments and private enterprises; the rest are collected via supplemental surveys conducted by the CBC.

The data are original and are not seasonally adjusted.

Beginning 2016, the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position of the Republic of China (Taiwan) are compiled in accordance with the Sixth Edition of the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual issued by the International Monetary Fund.                                                      

1. Current Account                                                         

  • Goods: The transactions of movable goods between residents and nonresidents involving a change of ownership. This includes General merchandise (Goods that pass through the R.O.C. (Taiwan) territory without ownership changes are excluded; goods of which ownership changes without passing through the R.O.C. (Taiwan) territory are included), Net exports of goods under merchandising (Purchased raw materials, semi-finished goods or finished goods by a resident from a nonresident followed by the resale of the same goods without passing through the R.O.C. (Taiwan) territory) and Nonmonetary gold cover all gold not held as reserve assets by the monetary authority, including physical gold and transactions of allocated gold accounts.                            
  • Services: This includes services from different industries, Manufacturing services ( for example packing, assembling, labelling of goods), Maintenance and repair services (maintenance and repair work for or by nonresidents on ships, aircraft, and other transport equipment), Travel and transport (passenger and freight services, and other transport services and the expenditure on goods and services of nonresidents traveling in the R.O.C. (Taiwan) and residents traveling abroad for less than one year), others services include, for example Construction, Insurance and pension services and Financial services cover explicit financial intermediary and auxiliary services.
  • Income:
    • Primary income includes Compensation of employees: wages, salaries, and other benefits earned by nonresident workers with length of stay under one year, Investment income comprises receipts and payments of income associated and : income receivable from the use of land or others natural resources, including the use of rights in territorial airspace or waters
    • Secondary income which was previously known as "current transfers" in BPM5. Secondary income covers items offset when a resident provides a real resource or a financial item to a nonresident without receiving any real resource or financial item in exchange. Examples are workers’ remittances (compensation of foreign workers staying in the compiling economy for one year or longer), donations, remittances to support family, gifts and samples, insurance claims, etc.                                          

2. Capital Account                                                           

The capital account covers all transactions that involve the receipt/payment of capital transfers and the acquisition/disposal of non-produced, nonfinancial assets (such as trademarks, franchises, and domain names).                                               

3. Financial Account                                                       

The financial account records the transactions in external financial assets and financial liabilities.  The components of the financial account are classified by the functional types of investment: direct investment, portfolio investment, financial derivatives, and other investment.                                           

4. Reserve Assets                                                           

Reserve assets consist of those external assets that are readily available to and controlled by the monetary authority. By definition, reserve assets consist of monetary gold, currency and deposits, securities (including debt and equity securities), financial derivatives, and other claims (loans and other financial instruments).                                      

The news release and all publications indicate that the data for the latest quarter are preliminary and contain estimates for unavailable source data. The publication of "Balance of Payments Quarterly" notes that "r" refers to the revision of quarterly and annual data for earlier periods. There is no advance notice of major changes in methodology but at the time of major changes in methodology there is a notice on the cover of "Balance of Payment Quarterly". The current data is in accordance to BPM6.