Bermuda recorded a $206 million surplus on current account for the third quarter, according to government figures released by the Ministry of Economy and Labour.

Details are found in the government report on Balance of Payments & International Investment Position for Quarter three of 2022.

Jason Hayward, the Minister said it represented a $41 million increase from a year ago.

He said: “Transactions related to trade in goods led to a wider deficit on the goods account, increasing by $19 million to $314 million. Higher imports were associated mainly with basic materials and semi-manufactured goods.

He added: “Services transactions realised a surplus of $82 million, widening $14 million year-over-year. Greater growth was recorded on the travel accounts related to the increase in payments made by residents for air passenger services and travel services abroad.

“The surplus on Bermuda’s primary income account rose by $38 million to $502 million, due mainly to an increase in net investment income.”

Trade in financial assets and liabilities with the rest of the world resulted in a net international investment position of $3.3 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2022.

This balance decreased by $1.6 billion over the second quarter of 2022 due to decreased holdings of portfolio and other investments.

Two of the four institutional sectors recorded positive balances on their net international investment positions at the end of the third quarter.

Specifically, financial corporations recorded a balance of $6.1 billion, and non-profit institutions recorded a balance of $32 million.

In contrast, non-financial corporations recorded a deficit balance of $2.2 billion while the government sector recorded a deficit balance of $521 million due to a decline in portfolio investment assets and an increase in portfolio investment liabilities.

The government publication now includes a new Integrated International Investment Position Table. Data provided in the attending table demonstrates the flow of transactions and other changes between the reporting quarters.

Meanwhile, the Department of Statistics advised by way of a technical note that a computational error was detected within the exports of Travel Services in the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position template.

Download PDF File

Balance of Payments 3rd Quarter - 2022.pdf

The mistake also impacted the Exports of Services for the Quarterly Gross Domestic Product for Quarters one and two of 2022.

The report said the Quarterly GDP is being revised to account for the errors.

It noted: “The necessary steps have been taken to prevent this from recurring.”

The 2022 Q3 Balance of Payments & International Investment Position