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Introduction of digital services in the Balance of Payments

This article outlines recent improvements to digital services estimates in International Trade in Services statistics.

Released

3/12/2024

Source

Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia, September 2024

Executive Summary

This article outlines recent improvements to digital services estimates in International Trade in Services statistics. These have been included for the first time in the September quarter, 2024 Balance of Payments and International Investment Position publication and also flow through to the National Accounts estimates on Total Intermediate Use (TIU), Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF), and Household Final Consumption Expenditure (HFCE).

The measurement of digital services is challenging and has been a long-standing measurement gap within the ABS’ International Trade in Services and Balance of Payments statistics.
The ABS have recently improved the measurement of digital services targeting the most significant Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) providing digital services. New estimates have been developed using administrative data from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to estimate the imports and exports of these services.
The inclusion of the new digital services estimates has led to revisions to both imports and exports of services from the period September quarter 2009-10 and subsequently impact Australia’s Current Account balance. This is particularly the case from the 2016-17 financial year onwards when the imports (debits) of these digital services increased significantly.
With the inclusion of the new estimates, the value of digital services imported over the period 2009-10 to 2023-24 was $87 billion and accounted for 17% of the total Other services import value during that time. The annual value of digital services imported has increased from $119 million in 2009-10 to $18.5 billion in 2023-24, representing a 158 fold increase in value of this period.
There has been a smaller impact to exports. The value of digital services exported over the period 2009-10 to 2023-24 was $5 billion, and accounted for only 1% of the total Other services export value during that time.
The estimates of digital services have been allocated to the existing Extended Balance of Payments Services Classification 2010 (EBOPS) used within International Trade in Services statistics.

Background

In the past decade or so, there has been a substantial increase in digital services being offered and consumed in Australia, including audiovisual streaming services, advertising services and computer software.

These services are often provided to Australians by non-resident MNEs that operate across various countries. These MNEs have complex corporate structures which make it difficult to assess the creation, production, and consumption of these services.

These MNEs have utilised the rapid advancement of technology as well as various corporate structures, including favourable tax arrangements existing in different jurisdictions, to deliver these services globally without establishing a significant physical presence in the country where the services are delivered.

The measurement of these digital services in both National and International Accounts is challenging and has been a long-standing measurement gap (e.g., across Imports of Services, Household Consumption and Intermediate Use).

This is partly because of difficulties with businesses correctly reporting these services on the Survey of International Trade in Services (i.e. often they are not aware they are transacting directly with a non-resident entity) and partly because of a lack of available data on these services, particularly when consumed directly by households.

More recently, the Australian Tax Office (ATO) implemented a range of compliance measures to ensure that MNEs are paying their share of taxes when operating in Australia considering new laws and amendments.

As a result, the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law (MAAL), the Diverted Profits Tax (DPT), and the application of GST to digital services and products (‘Netflix Tax’), were all introduced around 2016-2017 and imposed high tax rates on companies deemed to be shifting profits to other jurisdictions with lower tax rates than Australia. The change in the tax laws led to many digital service companies subsequently changing their corporate structures and business models.

This led to noticeable shifts in key survey aggregates and prompted the ABS to think about how to apply our statistical frameworks and concepts of residency, economic production, and ownership in the National and International accounts.

Conceptual principles

The measurement of digital services has been produced based on the conceptual principles in the System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA 2008) and the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual 6th edition (BPM6).

The provision of services by MNEs to Australian customers can be undertaken in a multitude of ways and utilises complex corporate structures. For Australia, it is generally the case that the intellectual property (which underpins the production of digital services) is produced and held overseas by the parent entity and the services are then delivered by establishing local entities to administer and distribute the service.

In applying the principles in the SNA and BPM, consideration was given to a range of conceptual issues:

Does the local entity meet the definition of an institutional unit and is it considered to be a resident of Australia?
Which unit within the MNEs corporate structure has economic ownership of the intellectual property that underpins the production of these digital services?
What service is being produced by the local unit?

Depending on how the individual MNEs are structured there are 3 possible scenarios for recording the flows related to the provision of these digital services. These are:

Scenario 1 - Local entity produces Administrative and support service
Scenario 2 - Local entity produces commission or intermediation service
Scenario 3 - Local entity produces streaming/publishing service.

Extended Balance of Payments Services (EBOPS) categories

Estimates of International Trade in Services are classified based on the Extended Balance of Payments Services Classification 2010 (EBOPS). The new digital services have been classified to existing EBOPS categories and are outlined in Table 1.

These EBOPS are combined with a selection of other EBOP categories and aggregated as Other services in the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position publication.

Table 1. EBOPs containing digital services
Debits	Credits
8.1.1 (Licenses to produce and/or distribute computer software services)	10.2.1.4 (Other professional services)
10.2.2 (Advertising, market research and public opinion polling)	10.3.4 (Trade-related commission services)
11.1.2 (Audiovisual services n.i.e)	11.1.1.5 (Other film, TV and multimedia royalties)

Methodology

Producing current price estimates

The initial step in compiling digital services estimates was to identify companies that are engaged in the provision of digital services, with the focus on the most significant units. The products covered by companies included in these initial estimates relate to the provision of streaming services, software licenses and advertising services.

Each company was then analysed and classified to one of the scenarios based on the conceptual framework outline. Most companies delivering digital services to Australia fall under scenarios 1 and 2, noting that the intellectual property is produced, and ownership reside overseas.

For in-scope units, Business Activity Statement (BAS) data is the primary data source for units with a registered Australian Business Number (ABN). Based on the nature of the ATO data and the type of business activity conducted, the estimation and modelling techniques have been tailored individually to each organisation and type of service.

When BAS data was not suitable for use, alternative data sources were used. See Table 2 for the key data sources used to produce new digital services estimates.

Table 2. Data sources
Dataset	Source	Data items used
Business Activity Statement (BAS)	Australian Taxation Office	Total sales, GST-free sales, and GST payable data
Simplified GST registration	Australian Taxation Office	GST payable
Financial Statements and reports	Australian Securities and Investment Commission	Individual company financial reports
Survey of International Trade in Services	Australian Bureau of Statistics	Imports and Exports of trade in services for relevant service categories.
Consumer Price Index (CPI)	Australian Bureau of Statistics	CPI Pay TV Sub-Expenditure Class
Producer Price Index (PPI)	Australian Bureau of Statistics	PPI Output of class 6940 Advertising services and PPI Output of Group 542 Software publishing

Producing chain volume estimates

Once the current price estimates have been produced, chain volume estimates are compiled using price deflation. The Trade in Services price deflators have been reviewed to ensure that the most relevant CPI or PPI available is applied for each of the categories of digital services.

Applying seasonal adjustment

With the introduction of the new data sources and methodology for measuring digital services, the seasonal series were also reviewed to ensure seasonal adjustment treatments are fit for purpose and appropriately adjust for the seasonality of digital service imports and exports.

Impact on International Accounts

The inclusion of the new digital services primarily increased the level of imports across a number of Extended Balance of Payments Services (EBOPS) categories.

Impact on services imports (debits) series, current price

Graphs 1, 2 and 3 show the impact of the introduction of the digital services on existing EBOPS for import categories.

Revisions to the original series start from 2009-10 financial year. Imports of these EBOPS increased $87 billion over the time period. The value of digital services imports over the period 2009-10 to 2023-24 was $87 billion. Whilst the introduction of digital services had the largest revisions in Advertising, market research and public opinion polling, there was stronger growth in Licenses to reproduce and/or distribute computer software services during this period.

Imports of digital services accounted for 17% of Other services over the period 2009-10 to 2023-24. The growth rate has been increasing steadily, initially accounting for only 1% of Other services in 2009-10, and rising to 29% in 2023-24.

Graph 1. Quarterly imports of EBOPS containing digital services, current prices (1)
	Published Value ($m)	Revised Value with Digital Services ($m)
Sep-09	246	271
Dec-09	299	329
Mar-10	258	286
Jun-10	346	382
Sep-10	294	327
Dec-10	389	423
Mar-11	320	367
Jun-11	366	408
Sep-11	345	390
Dec-11	337	376
Mar-12	396	441
Jun-12	422	471
Sep-12	308	361
Dec-12	407	470
Mar-13	335	394
Jun-13	417	516
Sep-13	367	468
Dec-13	402	520
Mar-14	382	497
Jun-14	516	676
Sep-14	468	633
Dec-14	462	649
Mar-15	520	706
Jun-15	619	960
Sep-15	523	955
Dec-15	700	1,298
Mar-16	565	1,206
Jun-16	670	1,480
Sep-16	495	1,239
Dec-16	594	1,360
Mar-17	507	1,462
Jun-17	608	1,889
Sep-17	588	1,871
Dec-17	682	2,109
Mar-18	522	1,959
Jun-18	661	2,399
Sep-18	645	2,246
Dec-18	776	2,507
Mar-19	589	2,219
Jun-19	758	2,814
Sep-19	647	2,670
Dec-19	711	2,800
Mar-20	609	2,621
Jun-20	750	3,190
Sep-20	718	3,119
Dec-20	846	3,335
Mar-21	692	3,164
Jun-21	877	3,808
Sep-21	803	3,871
Dec-21	986	4,241
Mar-22	919	4,082
Jun-22	999	4,784
Sep-22	874	4,469
Dec-22	999	4,754
Mar-23	879	4,384
Jun-23	991	5,293
Sep-23	977	5,466
Dec-23	1,148	5,658
Mar-24	1,001	5,184
Jun-24	1,205	6,522

Graph 1. Quarterly imports of EBOPS containing digital services, current prices (1)

["","Published Value ($m)","Revised Value with Digital Services ($m)"]

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Graph 2. Revisions to annual imports of EBOPs containing digital services, current price (2)
Financial Year	Total Digital Services EBOPS ($m)	Audiovisual services n.i.e ($m)	Advertising, market research and public opinion polling ($m)	Licences to reproduce and/or distribute computer software services ($m)
2009-10	119	0	60	59
2010-11	156	0	93	63
2011-12	178	0	116	62
2012-13	274	19	179	76
2013-14	494	38	371	85
2014-15	879	166	586	127
2015-16	2,481	579	1,100	802
2016-17	3,746	696	1,830	1,220
2017-18	5,885	1,331	2,727	1,827
2018-19	7,018	1,663	2,996	2,359
2019-20	8,564	2,120	3,408	3,036
2020-21	10,293	2,602	4,082	3,609
2021-22	13,271	3,033	5,206	5,032
2022-23	15,157	3,260	5,628	6,269
2023-24	18,499	3,851	6,642	8,006

Graph 2. Revisions to annual imports of EBOPs containing digital services, current price (2)

["Financial Year","Total Digital Services EBOPS ($m)","Audiovisual\u00a0services\u00a0n.i.e ($m)","Advertising,\u00a0market\u00a0research\u00a0and\u00a0public\u00a0opinion\u00a0polling ($m)","Licences\u00a0to\u00a0reproduce\u00a0and\/or\u00a0distribute\u00a0computer\u00a0software\u00a0services ($m)"]

[["2009-10","2010-11","2011-12","2012-13","2013-14","2014-15","2015-16","2016-17","2017-18","2018-19","2019-20","2020-21","2021-22","2022-23","2023-24"],[[119],[156],[178],[274],[494],[879],[2481],[3746],[5885],[7018],[8564],[10293],[13271],[15157],[18499]],[[0],[0],[0],[19],[38],[166],[579],[696],[1331],[1663],[2120],[2602],[3033],[3260],[3851]],[[60],[93],[116],[179],[371],[586],[1100],[1830],[2727],[2996],[3408],[4082],[5206],[5628],[6642]],[[59],[63],[62],[76],[85],[127],[802],[1220],[1827],[2359],[3036],[3609],[5032],[6269],[8006]]]

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Graph 3. Quarterly imports of total EBOPS in Other Services, current price (2)
	Original Published Value ($m)	Revised Value with Digital Services ($m)
Sep-09	4,356	4,381
Dec-09	4,583	4,613
Mar-10	4,408	4,436
Jun-10	4,634	4,670
Sep-10	4,733	4,766
Dec-10	5,111	5,145
Mar-11	4,749	4,796
Jun-11	4,813	4,855
Sep-11	5,103	5,148
Dec-11	5,351	5,390
Mar-12	4,793	4,838
Jun-12	4,921	4,970
Sep-12	5,481	5,534
Dec-12	5,977	6,040
Mar-13	5,569	5,628
Jun-13	5,842	5,941
Sep-13	5,895	5,996
Dec-13	6,323	6,441
Mar-14	5,935	6,050
Jun-14	6,104	6,264
Sep-14	6,249	6,414
Dec-14	6,559	6,746
Mar-15	6,527	6,713
Jun-15	6,626	6,967
Sep-15	6,842	7,274
Dec-15	7,642	8,240
Mar-16	6,259	6,900
Jun-16	6,677	7,487
Sep-16	6,194	6,938
Dec-16	6,414	7,180
Mar-17	6,451	7,406
Jun-17	7,007	8,288
Sep-17	6,889	8,172
Dec-17	7,337	8,764
Mar-18	7,071	8,508
Jun-18	7,350	9,088
Sep-18	7,574	9,175
Dec-18	8,122	9,853
Mar-19	7,434	9,064
Jun-19	8,246	10,302
Sep-19	8,410	10,433
Dec-19	8,550	10,639
Mar-20	8,418	10,430
Jun-20	8,189	10,629
Sep-20	8,067	10,468
Dec-20	8,919	11,408
Mar-21	7,949	10,402
Jun-21	8,494	11,405
Sep-21	8,813	11,861
Dec-21	9,508	12,719
Mar-22	9,020	12,139
Jun-22	9,286	13,025
Sep-22	10,043	13,615
Dec-22	10,452	14,198
Mar-23	10,202	13,697
Jun-23	11,133	15,441
Sep-23	11,566	15,913
Dec-23	11,838	16,184
Mar-24	10,989	15,069
Jun-24	11,766	16,984

Graph 3. Quarterly imports of total EBOPS in Other Services, current price (2)

["","Original Published Value ($m)","Revised Value with Digital Services ($m)"]

[["Sep-09","Dec-09","Mar-10","Jun-10","Sep-10","Dec-10","Mar-11","Jun-11","Sep-11","Dec-11","Mar-12","Jun-12","Sep-12","Dec-12","Mar-13","Jun-13","Sep-13","Dec-13","Mar-14","Jun-14","Sep-14","Dec-14","Mar-15","Jun-15","Sep-15","Dec-15","Mar-16","Jun-16","Sep-16","Dec-16","Mar-17","Jun-17","Sep-17","Dec-17","Mar-18","Jun-18","Sep-18","Dec-18","Mar-19","Jun-19","Sep-19","Dec-19","Mar-20","Jun-20","Sep-20","Dec-20","Mar-21","Jun-21","Sep-21","Dec-21","Mar-22","Jun-22","Sep-22","Dec-22","Mar-23","Jun-23","Sep-23","Dec-23","Mar-24","Jun-24"],[[4356],[4583],[4408],[4634],[4733],[5111],[4749],[4813],[5103],[5351],[4793],[4921],[5481],[5977],[5569],[5842],[5895],[6323],[5935],[6104],[6249],[6559],[6527],[6626],[6842],[7642],[6259],[6677],[6194],[6414],[6451],[7007],[6889],[7337],[7071],[7350],[7574],[8122],[7434],[8246],[8410],[8550],[8418],[8189],[8067],[8919],[7949],[8494],[8813],[9508],[9020],[9286],[10043],[10452],[10202],[11133],[11566],[11838],[10989],[11766]],[[4381],[4613],[4436],[4670],[4766],[5145],[4796],[4855],[5148],[5390],[4838],[4970],[5534],[6040],[5628],[5941],[5996],[6441],[6050],[6264],[6414],[6746],[6713],[6967],[7274],[8240],[6900],[7487],[6938],[7180],[7406],[8288],[8172],[8764],[8508],[9088],[9175],[9853],[9064],[10302],[10433],[10639],[10430],[10629],[10468],[11408],[10402],[11405],[11861],[12719],[12139],[13025],[13615],[14198],[13697],[15441],[15913],[16184],[15069],[16984]]]

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Impact on services exports (credits) series, current price

Graphs 4, 5 and 6 show the impact of digital services on existing EBOPS for export categories, with steady increases seen from March quarter 2018 onwards. From 2009-10 to 2023-24 digital services added $5 billion to the Other services series. The introduction of digital services had the largest revisions in Trade-related commission services.

There were smaller revisions to the exports of services, contributing only 1% to the Other services series from 2009-10 to 2023-24, noting the production of digital services has not been a significant activity for Australia.

Graph 4. Quarterly exports of EBOPS containing digital services, current price (3)
	Published Value ($m)	Revised Value with Digital Services ($m)
Sep-09	326	326
Dec-09	406	406
Mar-10	309	309
Jun-10	354	354
Sep-10	385	385
Dec-10	438	438
Mar-11	385	385
Jun-11	460	461
Sep-11	382	382
Dec-11	400	400
Mar-12	427	428
Jun-12	405	406
Sep-12	279	279
Dec-12	316	317
Mar-13	321	321
Jun-13	291	293
Sep-13	252	254
Dec-13	298	300
Mar-14	345	347
Jun-14	333	335
Sep-14	314	316
Dec-14	315	318
Mar-15	339	342
Jun-15	331	339
Sep-15	343	356
Dec-15	365	377
Mar-16	354	378
Jun-16	353	381
Sep-16	331	359
Dec-16	343	374
Mar-17	435	466
Jun-17	363	401
Sep-17	307	329
Dec-17	438	479
Mar-18	477	544
Jun-18	391	465
Sep-18	379	423
Dec-18	358	411
Mar-19	462	510
Jun-19	405	536
Sep-19	386	476
Dec-19	480	572
Mar-20	462	548
Jun-20	497	702
Sep-20	361	514
Dec-20	409	543
Mar-21	496	619
Jun-21	426	601
Sep-21	462	603
Dec-21	438	608
Mar-22	542	699
Jun-22	481	723
Sep-22	548	720
Dec-22	529	688
Mar-23	568	715
Jun-23	467	742
Sep-23	393	861
Dec-23	435	882
Mar-24	510	918
Jun-24	454	1,022

Graph 4. Quarterly exports of EBOPS containing digital services, current price (3)

["","Published Value ($m)","Revised Value with Digital Services ($m)"]

[["Sep-09","Dec-09","Mar-10","Jun-10","Sep-10","Dec-10","Mar-11","Jun-11","Sep-11","Dec-11","Mar-12","Jun-12","Sep-12","Dec-12","Mar-13","Jun-13","Sep-13","Dec-13","Mar-14","Jun-14","Sep-14","Dec-14","Mar-15","Jun-15","Sep-15","Dec-15","Mar-16","Jun-16","Sep-16","Dec-16","Mar-17","Jun-17","Sep-17","Dec-17","Mar-18","Jun-18","Sep-18","Dec-18","Mar-19","Jun-19","Sep-19","Dec-19","Mar-20","Jun-20","Sep-20","Dec-20","Mar-21","Jun-21","Sep-21","Dec-21","Mar-22","Jun-22","Sep-22","Dec-22","Mar-23","Jun-23","Sep-23","Dec-23","Mar-24","Jun-24"],[[326],[406],[309],[354],[385],[438],[385],[460],[382],[400],[427],[405],[279],[316],[321],[291],[252],[298],[345],[333],[314],[315],[339],[331],[343],[365],[354],[353],[331],[343],[435],[363],[307],[438],[477],[391],[379],[358],[462],[405],[386],[480],[462],[497],[361],[409],[496],[426],[462],[438],[542],[481],[548],[529],[568],[467],[393],[435],[510],[454]],[[326],[406],[309],[354],[385],[438],[385],[461],[382],[400],[428],[406],[279],[317],[321],[293],[254],[300],[347],[335],[316],[318],[342],[339],[356],[377],[378],[381],[359],[374],[466],[401],[329],[479],[544],[465],[423],[411],[510],[536],[476],[572],[548],[702],[514],[543],[619],[601],[603],[608],[699],[723],[720],[688],[715],[742],[861],[882],[918],[1022]]]

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Graph 5. Exports of Digital Services
	Total Digital Services EBOPS ($m)	Other professional services ($m)	Trade-related commission services ($m)	Other Film, TV and Multimedia Royalties ($m)
2009-10	0	0	0	0
2010-11	1	0	1	0
2011-12	2	0	2	0
2012-13	3	2	1	0
2013-14	8	4	4	0
2014-15	16	12	4	0
2015-16	77	42	35	0
2016-17	128	48	80	0
2017-18	204	88	116	0
2018-19	276	94	182	0
2019-20	473	115	358	0
2020-21	585	132	453	0
2021-22	710	157	553	0
2022-23	753	175	578	0
2023-24	1,891	214	1,649	28

Graph 5. Exports of Digital Services

["","Total Digital Services EBOPS ($m)","Other\u00a0professional\u00a0services ($m)","Trade-related\u00a0commission\u00a0services ($m)","Other\u00a0Film,\u00a0TV\u00a0and\u00a0Multimedia\u00a0Royalties ($m)"]

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[]

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Graph 6. Quarterly exports of total EBOPS in Other Services, current price (2)
	Original Published Value ($m)	Revised Value with Digital Services ($m)
Sep-09	3,615	3,615
Dec-09	3,769	3,769
Mar-10	3,479	3,479
Jun-10	3,810	3,810
Sep-10	3,684	3,684
Dec-10	3,979	3,979
Mar-11	3,617	3,617
Jun-11	4,029	4,030
Sep-11	3,860	3,860
Dec-11	4,056	4,056
Mar-12	3,982	3,983
Jun-12	4,151	4,152
Sep-12	4,062	4,062
Dec-12	4,407	4,408
Mar-13	4,396	4,396
Jun-13	4,538	4,540
Sep-13	4,543	4,545
Dec-13	4,904	4,906
Mar-14	4,676	4,678
Jun-14	4,748	4,750
Sep-14	5,016	5,018
Dec-14	5,688	5,691
Mar-15	5,255	5,258
Jun-15	5,229	5,237
Sep-15	5,183	5,196
Dec-15	5,488	5,500
Mar-16	4,920	4,944
Jun-16	5,178	5,206
Sep-16	5,206	5,234
Dec-16	5,401	5,432
Mar-17	5,212	5,243
Jun-17	5,840	5,878
Sep-17	5,583	5,605
Dec-17	5,977	6,018
Mar-18	5,779	5,846
Jun-18	6,238	6,312
Sep-18	6,126	6,170
Dec-18	6,537	6,590
Mar-19	6,426	6,474
Jun-19	6,931	7,062
Sep-19	7,101	7,191
Dec-19	7,661	7,753
Mar-20	7,912	7,998
Jun-20	7,351	7,556
Sep-20	7,245	7,395
Dec-20	7,921	8,086
Mar-21	8,114	8,322
Jun-21	8,061	8,382
Sep-21	8,379	8,680
Dec-21	8,813	9,162
Mar-22	8,443	8,794
Jun-22	8,436	8,848
Sep-22	8,500	8,859
Dec-22	9,026	9,403
Mar-23	8,582	9,004
Jun-23	9,083	9,626
Sep-23	9,298	9,817
Dec-23	9,656	10,143
Mar-24	9,197	9,660
Jun-24	9,332	9,994

Graph 6. Quarterly exports of total EBOPS in Other Services, current price (2)

["","Original Published Value ($m)","Revised Value with Digital Services ($m)"]

[["Sep-09","Dec-09","Mar-10","Jun-10","Sep-10","Dec-10","Mar-11","Jun-11","Sep-11","Dec-11","Mar-12","Jun-12","Sep-12","Dec-12","Mar-13","Jun-13","Sep-13","Dec-13","Mar-14","Jun-14","Sep-14","Dec-14","Mar-15","Jun-15","Sep-15","Dec-15","Mar-16","Jun-16","Sep-16","Dec-16","Mar-17","Jun-17","Sep-17","Dec-17","Mar-18","Jun-18","Sep-18","Dec-18","Mar-19","Jun-19","Sep-19","Dec-19","Mar-20","Jun-20","Sep-20","Dec-20","Mar-21","Jun-21","Sep-21","Dec-21","Mar-22","Jun-22","Sep-22","Dec-22","Mar-23","Jun-23","Sep-23","Dec-23","Mar-24","Jun-24"],[[3615],[3769],[3479],[3810],[3684],[3979],[3617],[4029],[3860],[4056],[3982],[4151],[4062],[4407],[4396],[4538],[4543],[4904],[4676],[4748],[5016],[5688],[5255],[5229],[5183],[5488],[4920],[5178],[5206],[5401],[5212],[5840],[5583],[5977],[5779],[6238],[6126],[6537],[6426],[6931],[7101],[7661],[7912],[7351],[7245],[7921],[8114],[8061],[8379],[8813],[8443],[8436],[8500],[9026],[8582],[9083],[9298],[9656],[9197],[9332]],[[3615],[3769],[3479],[3810],[3684],[3979],[3617],[4030],[3860],[4056],[3983],[4152],[4062],[4408],[4396],[4540],[4545],[4906],[4678],[4750],[5018],[5691],[5258],[5237],[5196],[5500],[4944],[5206],[5234],[5432],[5243],[5878],[5605],[6018],[5846],[6312],[6170],[6590],[6474],[7062],[7191],[7753],[7998],[7556],[7395],[8086],[8322],[8382],[8680],[9162],[8794],[8848],[8859],[9403],[9004],[9626],[9817],[10143],[9660],[9994]]]

[]

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Impact on Current Account

The larger impacts to imports have resulted in a downward revision to Australia’s Current Account balance, decreasing steadily from September quarter 2015.

Graph 7. Quarterly Current Account Balance, original
	June quarter 2024 published ($m)	Revised value with digital services revisions ($m)
Sep-09	-18,414	-18,439
Dec-09	-20,954	-20,984
Mar-10	-17,905	-17,933
Jun-10	-7,527	-7,563
Sep-10	-12,101	-12,134
Dec-10	-12,300	-12,334
Mar-11	-12,112	-12,159
Jun-11	-8,810	-8,851
Sep-11	-11,764	-11,809
Dec-11	-11,464	-11,503
Mar-12	-15,893	-15,937
Jun-12	-12,093	-12,141
Sep-12	-19,150	-19,203
Dec-12	-18,950	-19,012
Mar-13	-11,798	-11,857
Jun-13	-11,747	-11,844
Sep-13	-17,944	-18,043
Dec-13	-11,550	-11,666
Mar-14	-8,962	-9,075
Jun-14	-11,084	-11,242
Sep-14	-16,888	-17,051
Dec-14	-12,690	-12,874
Mar-15	-11,394	-11,577
Jun-15	-19,062	-19,395
Sep-15	-23,875	-24,294
Dec-15	-22,267	-22,853
Mar-16	-15,000	-15,617
Jun-16	-16,481	-17,263
Sep-16	-17,991	-18,707
Dec-16	-6,372	-7,107
Mar-17	-6,117	-7,041
Jun-17	-10,030	-11,273
Sep-17	-15,119	-16,380
Dec-17	-15,602	-16,988
Mar-18	-9,786	-11,156
Jun-18	-11,780	-13,444
Sep-18	-13,522	-15,079
Dec-18	-7,509	-9,187
Mar-19	-1,771	-3,353
Jun-19	4,792	2,867
Sep-19	2,783	850
Dec-19	1,279	-718
Mar-20	6,983	5,057
Jun-20	18,164	15,929
Sep-20	6,376	4,128
Dec-20	13,557	11,202
Mar-21	16,712	14,363
Jun-21	25,819	23,063
Sep-21	16,385	13,458
Dec-21	5,477	2,392
Mar-22	1,095	-1,911
Jun-22	19,126	15,583
Sep-22	-9,767	-13,190
Dec-22	9,882	6,286
Mar-23	5,854	2,496
Jun-23	7,366	3,339
Sep-23	-13,564	-17,585
Dec-23	6,687	2,624
Mar-24	-5,659	-9,434
Jun-24	-6,258	-11,007

Graph 7. Quarterly Current Account Balance, original

["","June quarter 2024 published ($m)","Revised value with digital services revisions ($m)"]

[["Sep-09","Dec-09","Mar-10","Jun-10","Sep-10","Dec-10","Mar-11","Jun-11","Sep-11","Dec-11","Mar-12","Jun-12","Sep-12","Dec-12","Mar-13","Jun-13","Sep-13","Dec-13","Mar-14","Jun-14","Sep-14","Dec-14","Mar-15","Jun-15","Sep-15","Dec-15","Mar-16","Jun-16","Sep-16","Dec-16","Mar-17","Jun-17","Sep-17","Dec-17","Mar-18","Jun-18","Sep-18","Dec-18","Mar-19","Jun-19","Sep-19","Dec-19","Mar-20","Jun-20","Sep-20","Dec-20","Mar-21","Jun-21","Sep-21","Dec-21","Mar-22","Jun-22","Sep-22","Dec-22","Mar-23","Jun-23","Sep-23","Dec-23","Mar-24","Jun-24"],[[-18414],[-20954],[-17905],[-7527],[-12101],[-12300],[-12112],[-8810],[-11764],[-11464],[-15893],[-12093],[-19150],[-18950],[-11798],[-11747],[-17944],[-11550],[-8962],[-11084],[-16888],[-12690],[-11394],[-19062],[-23875],[-22267],[-15000],[-16481],[-17991],[-6372],[-6117],[-10030],[-15119],[-15602],[-9786],[-11780],[-13522],[-7509],[-1771],[4792],[2783],[1279],[6983],[18164],[6376],[13557],[16712],[25819],[16385],[5477],[1095],[19126],[-9767],[9882],[5854],[7366],[-13564],[6687],[-5659],[-6258]],[[-18439],[-20984],[-17933],[-7563],[-12134],[-12334],[-12159],[-8851],[-11809],[-11503],[-15937],[-12141],[-19203],[-19012],[-11857],[-11844],[-18043],[-11666],[-9075],[-11242],[-17051],[-12874],[-11577],[-19395],[-24294],[-22853],[-15617],[-17263],[-18707],[-7107],[-7041],[-11273],[-16380],[-16988],[-11156],[-13444],[-15079],[-9187],[-3353],[2867],[850],[-718],[5057],[15929],[4128],[11202],[14363],[23063],[13458],[2392],[-1911],[15583],[-13190],[6286],[2496],[3339],[-17585],[2624],[-9434],[-11007]]]

[]

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Impact on National Accounts

The revisions to imports and exports through the International Accounts were also reflected in the National Accounts, impacting Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF), Total Intermediate Use (TIU) and Household Final Consumption Expenditure (HFCE).

The Australian System of National Accounts 2023-24 financial year publication includes the new digital services estimates (Table 43, External Accounts, Current prices) and preceded the inclusion of digital services estimates in the September quarter, 2024 Balance of Payments and International Investment Position publication.

Post release changes

04/12/2024: The axis labels on graphs and tables have been updated.

Footnotes

These are the quarterly imports of combined EBOPS 8.1.1 (Licenses to produce and/or distribute computer software services), 10.2.2 (Advertising, market research and public opinion polling), 11.1.2 (Audiovisual services n.i.e) and also include small revisions for 2023-24 outside of digital services.
These include small revisions for 2023-24 outside of digital services.
These are the quarterly exports of combined EBOPS 10.2.1.4 (Other professional services), 10.3.4 (Trade-related commission services), 11.1.1.5 (Other film, TV and multimedia royalties) and also includes small revisions for 2023-24 outside of digital services.
These includes small revision in 2023-24 outside of the digital services and excludes digital services data already captured through the Survey of International Trade in Services (SITS) between 2009-10 and 2022-23.

APA

Citation