Euro area - Commercial service exports (current US$)

The value for Commercial service exports (current US$) in Euro area was 1,981,390,000,000 as of 2021. As the graph below shows, over the past 46 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 1,981,390,000,000 in 2021 and a minimum value of 65,371,340,000 in 1975.

Definition: Commercial service exports are total service exports minus exports of government services not included elsewhere. International transactions in services are defined by the IMF's Balance of Payments Manual (1993) as the economic output of intangible commodities that may be produced, transferred, and consumed at the same time. Definitions may vary among reporting economies.

Source: International Monetary Fund, Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files.

See also:

Year Value
1975 65,371,340,000
1976 73,086,480,000
1977 87,572,300,000
1978 111,348,000,000
1979 134,480,000,000
1980 162,120,000,000
1981 153,008,000,000
1982 146,456,000,000
1983 139,771,000,000
1984 138,500,000,000
1985 145,580,000,000
1986 183,094,000,000
1987 220,694,000,000
1988 234,976,000,000
1989 249,801,000,000
1990 322,961,000,000
1991 327,521,000,000
1992 382,226,000,000
1993 362,751,000,000
1994 376,853,000,000
1995 435,028,000,000
1996 446,591,000,000
1997 444,352,000,000
1998 471,051,000,000
1999 496,382,000,000
2000 492,365,000,000
2001 507,215,000,000
2002 560,511,000,000
2003 663,742,000,000
2004 805,815,000,000
2005 870,172,000,000
2006 965,586,000,000
2007 1,149,400,000,000
2008 1,309,000,000,000
2009 1,161,060,000,000
2010 1,189,730,000,000
2011 1,344,890,000,000
2012 1,326,230,000,000
2013 1,436,570,000,000
2014 1,555,880,000,000
2015 1,451,280,000,000
2016 1,492,650,000,000
2017 1,659,730,000,000
2018 1,854,460,000,000
2019 1,886,780,000,000
2020 1,660,980,000,000
2021 1,981,390,000,000

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).

Aggregation method: Gap-filled total

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Private Sector & Trade Indicators

Sub-Topic: Exports