The Monetary Authority of Macao (AMCM) releases today the preliminary balance of payments (BOP) statistics of Macao SAR for the reference year 2013. The BOP, which comprises the current account, the capital account and the financial account, is a statistical statement that summarises external transactions of an economy with the rest of the world. In 2013, the current account continued to register a large surplus of MOP165.9 billion on account of strong growth in exports of travel services. Meanwhile, the financial non-reserve assets, the dominant component of the financial account, showed a significant net increase of MOP140.9 billion mainly driven by a substantial growth in foreign financial assets of residents and the government sector. Due to buoyant domestic demand and visitor spending, merchandise imports, valued at f.o.b., increased by 14.5% in 2013. Meanwhile, merchandise exports rose by 10.9%, thus causing the merchandise trade deficit to enlarge from MOP70.7 billion in 2012 to MOP81.3 billion in 2013. On the other hand, strong exports of travel services drove the surplus in the services account up from MOP270.8 billion in 2012 to MOP333.3 billion in 2013. The primary income account, which reflects cross-border flows of factor income, recorded a net outflow of MOP63.3 billion in 2013, up from the net outflow of MOP52.2 billion in 2012. The significant increase stemmed mainly from the increase in income earned by foreign direct investors in Macao. The secondary income account, which comprises mainly inflows and outflows of personal transfers as well as donations received/made by local social service organisations with respect to the rest of the world, recorded a net outflow of MOP22.8 billion, representing an increase of MOP13.7 billion from 2012. As the large invisible trade surplus offset the deficit in merchandise trade as well as net outflows of primary and secondary income, the current account surplus reached MOP165.9 billion, up notably by MOP27.0 billion from MOP138.8 billion in 2012. Net financial non-reserve assets registered a net outflow of MOP140.9 billion in 2013, compared to a net outflow of MOP116.1 billion in 2012. Of which, a net inflow of direct investment amounting to MOP20.9 billion was recorded, slightly lower than the net inflow of MOP22.8 billion in the preceding year. Due to the significant increases in external securities investment of Macao SAR's Fiscal Reserve and the provisional portfolio, the net outflow of portfolio investment surged markedly from the revised value of MOP22.8 billion in 2012 to MOP99.3 billion in 2013. Meanwhile, the net outflow of other investment slid from MOP116.5 billion in 2012 to MOP63.0 billion in 2013, mainly due to the notable increase in local banks' net incurrence of external liabilities. On the other hand, financial derivatives recorded a net inflow of MOP614.8 million in 2013, as against a net inflow of MOP487.7 million in 2012. Reserve assets in the financial account record the net change in Macao SAR foreign exchange reserves held by the AMCM. Reserve assets, after price, exchange rate and other adjustments, dropped by MOP4.6 billion as compared to an increase of MOP30.1 billion in 2012, contributing to an overall BOP deficit of MOP4.6 billion in 2013. Given the ample surplus in the current account, the overall deficit was attributable to the continued accumulation in external financial assets of Macao residents and the SAR Government. Macao's BOP statistics are compiled in accordance with the International Monetary Fund's Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (Sixth Edition). The current release incorporates preliminary estimates of key statistics, and a detailed report with revised data will be published in December 2014.
