DECEMBER KEY FIGURES

		Oct 2010	Nov 2010	Dec 2010	Nov 10 to Dec 10
		$m	$m	$m	% change
BALANCE ON GOODS AND SERVICES
	Trend estimates	2 281	2 202	2 042	. .
	Seasonally adjusted	2 589	2 078	1 981	. .
CREDITS (Exports of goods & services)
	Trend estimates	24 559	24 428	24 268	-1
	Seasonally adjusted	24 416	24 494	24 579	-
DEBITS (Imports of goods & services)
	Trend estimates	22 277	22 226	22 226	-
	Seasonally adjusted	21 827	22 416	22 598	1
. . not applicable
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)

Balance on Goods and Services

DECEMBER KEY POINTS


BALANCE ON GOODS AND SERVICES

• The trend estimate of the balance on goods and services was a surplus of $2,042m in December 2010, a decrease of $160m on the surplus in November 2010.
• In seasonally adjusted terms, the balance on goods and services was a surplus of $1,981m in December 2010, a decrease of $97m on the surplus in November 2010.

CREDITS (EXPORTS OF GOODS & SERVICES)

• In seasonally adjusted terms, goods and services credits rose $85m to $24,579m. Non-rural goods rose $227m (1%), rural goods rose $21m (1%) and net exports of goods under merchanting rose $1m (25%). Non-monetary gold fell $118m (10%). Services credits fell $46m (1%).

DEBITS (IMPORTS OF GOODS & SERVICES)

• In seasonally adjusted terms, goods and services debits rose $182m (1%) to $22,598m. Intermediate and other merchandise goods rose $643m (8%). Non-monetary gold fell $201m (34%), capital goods fell $155m (4%) and consumption goods fell $49m (1%). Services debits fell $57m (1%).

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE	Release Date
January 2011	3 March 2011
February 2011	5 April 2011
March 2011	10 May 2011
April 2011	2 June 2011
May 2011	5 July 2011
June 2011	3 August 2011

REVISIONS

Revisions have been made to incorporate the latest data relating to international merchandise trade and international trade in services. The international trade in goods and services on a balance of payments basis series have been revised from July 2009 onwards.

Table 17 summarises revisions to goods and services on a balance of payments basis, in original current price terms, since the last issue of this publication. In original terms, the revisions have:

• increased the deficit on goods and services for 2009-2010 by $9m
• increased the surplus on goods and services for the five months to November 2010 by $32m.

Seasonally adjusted and trend series have been revised due to the incorporation of the revisions and estimates for the latest month.


IMPACT OF THE FLOODS

Flooding in Queensland began in late December 2010. Data collection and processing for the data in this publication were not disrupted. It is expected that the first significant economic impact of floods in Queensland and other states will be reflected in the forthcoming issues of this publication.


CHANGES IN THIS AND FORTHCOMING ISSUES

Changes have been made to the OECD country group to include Israel and Estonia. Gold and silver merchandise trade data have been revised outside the normal revision period. In addition, changes will be made to the Australian Harmonized Export Commodity Classification and the Customs Tariff classification. See the section Changes in this and forthcoming issues for details.


INQUIRIES

For further information contact Selvi Sekhar on Canberra (02) 6252 5540 for Goods, and Lee Taylor on Canberra (02) 6252 6377 for Services.