$171 million balance of payments surplus

THURSDAY, JAN. 19: Bermuda recorded a balance of payments surplus of $171 million in the third quarter of 2011.

The Department of Statistics said this was a $6 million decrease from the same period in 2010.

The declining surplus was due to an increase in current account repayments which outpaced the growth in receipts.

Total payments amounted to $665 million, representing an increase of $14 million when compared to the same quarter of 2010.

The growth in the level of payments was mostly attributed to a $34 million increase in investment income paid to nonresidents.

Current account receipts stood at $836 million, or $8 million above 2010 levels.

A total of $242 million was spent on imported goods in the third quarter of 2011, which represented a $10 million decline.

This included goods imported to Bermuda as well as goods purchased overseas by local shipping companies.

This marks the sixth straight quarter of reduced payments for imported goods. The third quarter decline was 4.0 per cent.

The largest declines were recorded in the chemical and fuels categories which contracted by $4.7 million and $4.6 million respectively.

There was an increase of $1.5 million spent in the transportation equipment category and an increase of $298,000 in machinery.

The trade good deficit narrowed to $238 million from $248 million reached in 2010.

Services transactions realized a surplus of $145 million for the third quarter. This represented an $18 million increase from the third quarter of 2010.

Outlays on business services decreased by $13 million during the third quarter. Within this category, Information and Communication Technology services fell by $3 million due to reduced payments for computer services.

The travel account recorded a $1 million decrease in payments, reflecting lower spending by residents during trips abroad.

Transportation costs increased by $5 million though as airline tickets were more expensive.

Both employee compensation and payroll tax fell by $7 million during the third quarter of 2011.

Higher earnings on bonds and money market accounts held overseas pushed the investment income receipts up by $5 million compared to the previous year.

No transactions were recorded on the capital account.