Congo - Commercial service imports (current US$)

The value for Commercial service imports (current US$) in Congo was 2,200,830,000 as of 2016. As the graph below shows, over the past 38 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 3,773,369,000 in 2011 and a minimum value of 214,063,800 in 1979.

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
1978 252,229,200
1979 214,063,800
1980 473,600,000
1981 707,514,700
1982 683,431,900
1983 715,414,100
1984 385,029,000
1985 510,175,600
1986 634,987,700
1987 475,250,000
1988 518,170,000
1989 476,163,200
1990 748,168,700
1991 779,846,200
1992 734,439,000
1993 842,625,500
1994 982,880,800
1995 689,921,000
1996 929,167,700
1997 748,029,600
1998 853,159,600
1999 854,329,600
2000 727,993,300
2001 842,174,000
2002 916,981,100
2003 866,138,600
2004 1,012,143,000
2005 1,412,787,000
2006 2,421,541,000
2007 2,861,830,000
2008 2,692,001,000
2009 3,233,150,000
2010 3,299,057,000
2011 3,773,369,000
2012 2,862,004,000
2013 2,896,688,000
2014 3,708,603,000
2015 3,699,229,000
2016 2,200,830,000

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