3.8 Imports

According to the ESA95 definition, the imports of goods and services "consist of transactions in goods and services (purchases, barter, gifts or grants) from non-residents to residents" (ESA95 3.129).

Imports and exports of goods, the same source continues, "occur when there are changes of ownership of goods between residents and non-residents (whether or not there are also corresponding physical movements of goods across frontiers)" (ESA95 3.132). Although goods do in most cases move across national frontiers, physical movement is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for imports; the key criterion is the change of ownership between a domestic (i.e. resident) and foreign (non-resident) economic unit. ESA95 provides examples of cases where ownership changes even though the goods never cross frontiers (such as the direct sale of goods produced by resident units operating in international waters to non-residents in foreign countries); and of cases where goods do cross national frontiers but there is no change of ownership (such as goods in transit through a country or goods shipped to a country's embassies or military bases inside the national frontiers of another country). Furthermore, ESA95 (3.135) has a list of what is defined as imports (and exports) of goods.

With respect to services, the ESA95 definition says that "imports of services consist of all services rendered by non-residents to residents" (ESA95 3.141). Services include financial and insurance services as well as the transport of both goods and passengers. Expenditure by non-resident tourists and business travellers is classified as services, even though their purchases actually include both goods and services.

Examples