Nicaragua - Commercial service imports (current US$)

The value for Commercial service imports (current US$) in Nicaragua was 591,300,000 as of 2020. As the graph below shows, over the past 43 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 1,045,400,000 in 2013 and a minimum value of 58,000,000 in 1989.

Definition: Commercial service imports are total service imports minus imports 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
1977 134,200,000
1978 100,300,000
1979 99,400,000
1980 91,700,000
1981 97,000,000
1982 82,700,000
1983 100,700,000
1984 122,900,000
1985 129,600,000
1986 159,100,000
1987 160,500,000
1988 138,100,000
1989 58,000,000
1990 73,300,000
1991 76,600,000
1992 115,600,000
1993 106,200,000
1994 159,400,000
1995 207,300,000
1996 239,000,000
1997 226,700,000
1998 253,000,000
1999 318,700,000
2000 334,100,000
2001 346,200,000
2002 336,100,000
2003 353,300,000
2004 385,100,000
2005 423,600,000
2006 557,900,000
2007 650,400,000
2008 743,500,000
2009 663,700,000
2010 693,200,000
2011 820,700,000
2012 871,000,000
2013 1,045,400,000
2014 958,600,000
2015 978,700,000
2016 951,200,000
2017 984,200,000
2018 913,300,000
2019 808,000,000
2020 591,300,000

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: Imports