APRIL KEY FIGURES

		February 2009	March 2009	April 2009	Mar 09 to Apr 09
		$m	$m	$m	% change
BALANCE ON GOODS AND SERVICES
	Trend estimates	1 569	1 507	1 369	-9
	Seasonally adjusted	1 683	2 302	-91	. .
CREDITS (Exports of goods & services)
	Trend estimates	24 030	23 397	22 819	-2
	Seasonally adjusted	24 549	24 440	21 680	-11
DEBITS (Imports of goods & services)
	Trend estimates	22 461	21 890	21 450	-2
	Seasonally adjusted	22 866	22 138	21 771	-2
. . not applicable

Balance on Goods and Services

APRIL KEY POINTS


BALANCE ON GOODS AND SERVICES

• The trend estimate of the balance on goods and services was a surplus of $1,369m in April 2009, a decrease of $138m (9%) on a revised surplus in March 2009.
• In seasonally adjusted terms, the balance on goods and services was a deficit of $91m in April 2009, a turnaround of $2,393m on a revised surplus in March 2009.

CREDITS (EXPORTS OF GOODS & SERVICES)

• Seasonally adjusted, goods and services credits fell $2,760m (11%) to $21,680m. Non-rural goods fell $1,692m (12%), other goods fell $784m (34%) and rural goods fell $320m (11%). Services credits rose $34m (1%).
• The fall in non-rural goods largely reflects the falls in the coal, coke and briquettes component, down $619m (15%), and the metal ores and minerals component, down $430m (10%). Prices declines were driving the falls in these components. The largest fall in other goods was in the non-monetary gold component, down $783m (37%).

DEBITS (IMPORTS OF GOODS & SERVICES)

• Seasonally adjusted, goods and services debits fell $367m (2%) to $21,771m. Other goods fell $463m (35%), mainly due to a fall in non-monetary gold, down $305m (32%). Capital goods, down $47m and consumption goods, down $38m both fell 1%. Intermediate and other merchandise goods rose $160m (2%) and services debits rose $20m.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
May 2009	2 July 2009
June 2009	5 August 2009
July 2009	3 September 2009
August 2009	6 October 2009
September 2009	5 November 2009
October 2009	9 December 2009

REVISIONS

Revisions were made to merchandise trade data for the previous six months to incorporate the latest available administrative data. There were no revisions to the balance of payments series in original terms. However, the seasonally adjusted and trend estimates have been revised due to the use of concurrent seasonal adjustment (see paragraph 8 in the explanatory notes).


AVAILABILITY OF RELATED DATA

As advised in previous issues, the services 2008 calendar year time series data cubes (other than table 9) will be released on 17 June 2009. Table 9 was released with the March issue of this publication.

A new services table, 'Table 12 International trade in services, credits, education related travel, by educational sector, by type of expenditure by year' will be available from 17 June 2009 on a calendar year basis.


INFORMATION PAPER

The Information paper: Revisions to international standards in monthly international trade in goods and services statistics from August 2009 (cat. no. 5368.0.55.012) will be released on 17 June 2009. This paper outlines the changes to the international standards and the impact on the presentation of statistics in this publication. It describes the background to the changes, the timing of the changes, and provides mock-ups of the proposed publications and related spreadsheets.

A separate information paper (cat. no. 5302.0.55.002) advising the impact of changes to the international standards on the quarterly international accounts is scheduled to be released on 22 July 2009.


IRON ORE AND COAL PRICES

An adjustment has been made to the value of iron ore exports in the Balance of Payments series. For details see: Commodity prices adjustment.


INQUIRIES

For further information contact Selvi Sekhar on Canberra (02) 6252 5540 for goods, and Karen McGuigan on Canberra (02) 6252 5415 for services.