France - Commercial service imports (current US$)

The value for Commercial service imports (current US$) in France was 258,095,000,000 as of 2021. As the graph below shows, over the past 46 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 273,839,000,000 in 2018 and a minimum value of 13,530,300,000 in 1975.

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
1975 13,530,300,000
1976 14,733,550,000
1977 17,099,900,000
1978 20,476,470,000
1979 25,455,820,000
1980 32,301,720,000
1981 33,253,720,000
1982 27,885,200,000
1983 25,613,450,000
1984 25,195,540,000
1985 25,580,500,000
1986 32,306,240,000
1987 39,120,900,000
1988 42,476,960,000
1989 45,713,050,000
1990 60,902,810,000
1991 63,309,310,000
1992 72,101,990,000
1993 68,866,690,000
1994 62,086,900,000
1995 72,959,070,000
1996 73,477,210,000
1997 68,981,420,000
1998 73,634,470,000
1999 90,080,460,000
2000 83,513,990,000
2001 86,273,520,000
2002 94,058,150,000
2003 108,617,000,000
2004 124,526,000,000
2005 133,316,000,000
2006 145,287,000,000
2007 168,158,000,000
2008 193,849,000,000
2009 175,302,000,000
2010 180,890,000,000
2011 202,350,000,000
2012 202,038,000,000
2013 227,687,000,000
2014 252,200,000,000
2015 233,339,000,000
2016 236,694,000,000
2017 246,916,000,000
2018 273,839,000,000
2019 269,190,000,000
2020 235,565,000,000
2021 258,095,000,000

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: Imports