Current Account Deficit

About Current Account Deficit:

• Balance of Payments (BoP):
  • The Balance of payments (BoP) records the transactions in goods, services and assets between residents of a country with the rest of the world.
  • There are two main accounts in the BoP –
    • the current account and
    • the capital account.
  • Current Account:
    • The current account records exports and imports in goods and services and transfer payments.
    • Trade in services denoted as invisible trade (because they are not seen to cross national borders) includes both
      • factor income (payment for inputs-investment income, that is, the interest, profits and dividends on our assets abroad minus the income foreigners earn on assets they own in India) and
      • non-factor income (shipping, banking, insurance, tourism, software services, etc.).
    • Transfer payments are receipts which the residents of a country receive ‘for free’, without having to make any present or future payments in return. They consist of remittances, gifts and grants. They could be official or private.
    • The balance of exports and imports of goods is referred to as the trade balance.
    • Adding trade in services and net transfers to the trade balance, we get the current account balance.

Source : The Hindu