Bermuda’s balance of payments surplus grew in 2010 - helped by a nine percent decline in goods imports.The Island’s current account, which represents the economic transactions between Bermuda people and companies and the rest of the world, showed a surplus of $818 million for the year - up $270 million from 2009. The rise is the result of higher receipts and lower payments.The slump in goods imports helped to boost the surplus, but was a reflection of a continuing slowdown in spending in the domestic economy.Balance of Payments data released by the Department of Statistics yesterday showed that goods imports totalled $966 million in 2010, representing a 9.3 percent fall compared to the $1.06 billion of imports recorded in 2009.The fall comes after a similarly sharp decline in 2009, which means that the annual value of goods imported has fallen by $194 million, or 16.7 percent, since 2008.The numbers reflect a trend of people buying less. Retail Sales Index releases have shown year-on-year declines for 34 consecutive months in sales volume.The current account surplus for the fourth quarter of 2010 was $234 million, up $69 million from the same period a year earlier. This was helped by receipts from services transactions climbing two percent to $324 million, and a 14 percent decline in the value of goods imported during the October through December period.Imports of all major commodity groups fell in the fourth quarter apart from chemicals. The value of fuel imports saw a particularly dramatic fall, plunging to around $16 million, less than half of the value imported in the same period in 2010. The financial account showed a net outflow of $541 million for the fourth quarter as Bermuda residents and entities spent $1.78 billion on foreign assets.For the full year 2010, the financial account showed a net outflow of $758 million, compared to a net inflow of $286 million in 2009.Employee compensation - paid to residents from overseas sources - made up around 41 percent of all receipts and fell by $9 million to $1.266 billion. This compared to falls of $48 million in 2009 and $59 million in 2008.There was a significant decrease in employee compensation receipts during the second half of the year as second-quarter employment compensation of $321 million slumped $13 million to $308 million.Travel receipts grew $46 million in 2010 to $412 million, while business services receipts climbed $42 million to $898 million.