Kenya - Commercial service exports (current US$)

The value for Commercial service exports (current US$) in Kenya was 2,938,033,000 as of 2020. As the graph below shows, over the past 45 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 4,628,441,000 in 2019 and a minimum value of 255,883,200 in 1975.

Definition: Commercial service exports are total service exports minus exports 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 255,883,200
1976 288,987,500
1977 320,422,900
1978 395,633,100
1979 432,089,200
1980 520,606,800
1981 396,463,200
1982 400,830,400
1983 362,543,200
1984 386,225,100
1985 413,884,600
1986 468,514,800
1987 546,294,600
1988 592,772,900
1989 624,864,300
1990 773,649,600
1991 739,374,000
1992 757,461,200
1993 960,099,300
1994 1,158,678,000
1995 1,186,869,000
1996 1,168,436,000
1997 1,657,537,000
1998 1,909,016,000
1999 2,069,042,000
2000 731,035,700
2001 826,654,000
2002 775,125,600
2003 878,838,000
2004 1,229,575,000
2005 1,525,402,000
2006 1,986,534,000
2007 2,417,673,000
2008 2,530,965,000
2009 2,197,950,000
2010 3,016,231,000
2011 3,345,208,000
2012 4,012,125,000
2013 4,200,076,000
2014 4,116,080,000
2015 3,708,728,000
2016 3,368,519,000
2017 3,784,968,000
2018 4,625,766,000
2019 4,628,441,000
2020 2,938,033,000

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: Exports