Annual Revision of the U.S. International Transactions Accounts (ITAs)

On June 14, 2012, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released "U.S. International Transactions: First Quarter 2012.” This release includes preliminary statistics for the first quarter of 2012 and revised statistics for the first quarter of 2009 through the fourth quarter of 2011. The revised statistics largely reflect newly available source data, but also include improvements to estimation methodologies, which BEA incorporates each June as part of the annual revision of the ITAs. The format of the U.S. international transactions tables has not changed. The July 2012 issue of the SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS will contain tables and an article describing the revisions.

BEA’s ongoing efforts to modernize and enhance the U.S. international economic accounts have not resulted in any changes in definitions or classifications with the annual revision of the ITAs this year. The most recent article describing this effort was published in the May 2012 issue of the SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS. This article and additional information on BEA’s efforts to modernize and enhance the international economic accounts can be found on BEA’s Web site.

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