United Kingdom - Commercial service exports (current US$)

The value for Commercial service exports (current US$) in United Kingdom was 377,247,000,000 as of 2020. As the graph below shows, over the past 50 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 413,501,000,000 in 2019 and a minimum value of 7,747,194,000 in 1970.

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
1970 7,747,194,000
1971 8,995,417,000
1972 9,925,695,000
1973 11,999,660,000
1974 14,653,540,000
1975 16,002,050,000
1976 16,924,500,000
1977 19,145,270,000
1978 22,632,660,000
1979 28,990,740,000
1980 34,295,100,000
1981 31,777,270,000
1982 28,840,530,000
1983 27,059,690,000
1984 26,643,090,000
1985 29,454,050,000
1986 34,879,880,000
1987 42,011,650,000
1988 45,298,810,000
1989 44,945,560,000
1990 53,830,060,000
1991 53,553,350,000
1992 61,630,140,000
1993 60,067,150,000
1994 67,929,710,000
1995 77,549,120,000
1996 88,594,460,000
1997 99,854,450,000
1998 110,721,000,000
1999 132,159,000,000
2000 134,246,000,000
2001 138,339,000,000
2002 150,025,000,000
2003 181,341,000,000
2004 222,117,000,000
2005 245,771,000,000
2006 283,060,000,000
2007 335,265,000,000
2008 328,391,000,000
2009 281,731,000,000
2010 288,417,000,000
2011 333,521,000,000
2012 338,941,000,000
2013 362,179,000,000
2014 388,223,000,000
2015 371,250,000,000
2016 362,545,000,000
2017 373,144,000,000
2018 413,065,000,000
2019 413,501,000,000
2020 377,247,000,000

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