5302.0 - Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia, Sep 2013 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 03/12/2013   
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CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE


USE OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE PRICE INDEXES

As announced in the Information Paper: Outcome of the Review of the Producer and International Trade Price Indexes, 2012 (cat. no. 6427.0.55.004), from this issue the ABS is fully incorporating the use of International Trade Price Indexes (ITPIs) in the compilation of Balance of Payments (and National Accounts) Chain Volume Measures (CVMs) for goods. This change improves the coherence between the ITPIs and the Balance of Payments and National Accounts export and imports of goods chain price indexes and Implicit Price Deflators (IPDs). This new method is applied from September quarter 2012 onward.

The ITPIs will continue to be aggregated using weights derived from International Merchandise Trade Statistics. Aggregated IPDs will reflect the weighting of goods components on a Balance of Payments basis in each respective period. As a result, differences will continue to occur between the ITPIs and the IPDs.


PERSONS CHANGING RESIDENCY

Estimates of the assets and liabilities of persons changing residency (migrants) permanently were included in the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position as part of the introduction of BPM6 in the September quarter 2009 issue of this publication. At that time data sources and a methodology to estimate the assets and liabilities of persons changing residency long-term (but not permanently) were not available. Data sources and methodologies have now been developed for long-term migrants, and methodologies for permanent migrants have been improved and are included from this issue. This has resulted in revisions for periods back to September quarter 1988. These revisions impact the financial account, primary income, secondary income, and international investment position.


WITHHOLDING TAXES

From this issue, changes to the model used to derive withholding taxes as part of the secondary income account have been applied. The model has been reviewed and updated to include an indicator series which will account for changes in the parameters of the model such as withholding tax rates for different countries. As a result, there are minor changes to the existing tax rate used within the model and revised estimates of withholding taxes. Existing source data and the underlying methodology remain unchanged. These revisions have been applied from September quarter 2001 when modelled data was initially implemented.

Further to these revisions, the royalties withholding tax series has been removed from the secondary income account and classified as other taxes on production and imports within the primary income account, in line with international standards. This has resulted in revisions from December quarter 1959. The new series has been included in primary income tables 20, 21, 22, 70 and 71 with new series IDs, from this issue. Additionally a tax on income flows related to the assets and liabilities of persons changing residency (migrants) is now included in withholding taxes on the secondary income account. This has resulted in revisions back to September 1988.

In addition to the revised tables and series inclusions noted in the June quarter 2013 release of this publication, table 96, Quarterly combined current price seasonal adjustment factors, will include the following new series:

Table 96 - QUARTERLY COMBINED CURRENT PRICE SEASONAL ADJUSTMENT FACTORS

  • New series ID A83748893K (Primary income credits, Investment income, Other primary income) has been added after A3539181W (Primary income credits, Investment income, Reserve assets)
  • New series ID A83748892J (Primary income debits, Investment income, Other primary income) has been added after A3539185F (Primary income debits, Investment income, Other investment liabilities).


NEW GOODS DEBITS LOW VALUE TRADE ADJUSTMENT

From this issue, a new adjustment has been introduced to include in Balance of Payments goods debits estimates, imports under the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service low value threshold, lodged without a full imports declaration. The introduction of this new adjustment has resulted in revisions back to September quarter 1998.

A technical note included in the August 2013 issue of International Trade in Goods and Services, Australia (cat. no. 5368.0) describes the data sources and methodology used for calculating this new adjustment as well as the impact on the goods debits series. Further information is available in the Information Paper: Measurement of Online Retail Trade in Macroeconomic Statistics, 2013 (cat. no. 8501.0.55.007).


TRAVEL SERVICES

A range of updated and revised survey and administrative data has resulted in revisions to travel credits and debits from 1997-98. The most significant changes are outlined below.

Education-related travel credits have been revised between September quarter 2004 and June quarter 2010 to reflect revised benchmark survey data for student expenditure. Average expenditure per student on goods and services is sourced from the International Student Survey conducted by Universities Australia. This survey was conducted in 1997, 2004 and 2010. The revised benchmarks from the 2010 survey have been gradually incorporated into published estimates as ABS policy, governing the revision of macroeconomic series, has allowed.

Other personal travel debits have been revised from December quarter 1998 to reflect revised outbound expenditure items sourced from the National Visitor Survey, conducted by Tourism Research Australia.


ANNUAL SEASONAL RE-ANALYSIS

The seasonally adjusted and trend estimates of goods and services have been revised as a result of the annual seasonal re-analysis. This re-analysis reviews the seasonal and trading day factors in more detail than is possible in the quarterly processing cycle and assesses the appropriateness of any prior corrections. For more information about seasonal adjustment see paragraphs 11 to 15 of the Explanatory Notes.


RE-REFERENCING OF CHAIN VOLUME ESTIMATES, IMPLICIT PRICE DEFLATORS, AND TERMS OF TRADE INDEXES

Chain volume estimates, implicit price deflators, and terms of trade indexes have been re-referenced to 2011-12. Additivity has been preserved in the quarters subsequent to the new reference year as well as the annual sum of the quarters in the reference year. Re-referencing affects the levels, but not the movements, of chain volume estimates, implicit price deflators and terms of trade indexes. This does not apply to the balance on goods and services where the components have been re-referenced separately.

This has resulted in revisions to the growth rates of chain volume estimates, implicit price deflators and terms of trade indexes for all periods from September quarter 2011.


SELECTED INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTS RATIOS - TABLE 35 (TIME SERIES SPREADSHEETS TABLES 35 AND 85)

The updated annual GDP and GNI benchmarks released in the Australian System of National Accounts, 2012-13 (cat. no. 5204.0) on 1 November 2013 will be revised and incorporated into the quarterly national accounts with the September quarter 2013 issue of Australian National Accounts: National Income Expenditure and Product (cat. no. 5206.0) to be released on 4 December 2013. The revised benchmarks will change the level of the quarterly and annual GDP and GNI used in the ratios for Table 35 (time series spreadsheets Tables 35 and 85) of this publication. As the ratios using the currently available GDP and GNI would be inconsistent with the revised data, the ratios have been suppressed in this issue. Tables 35 and 85 in the Time Series spreadsheets released in conjunction with this publication will be updated with the release of the quarterly National Accounts on 4 December 2013.