Director’s Message
This February issue of the Survey of Current Business marks the first for 2019. In it, we present our annual report of the current account of the U.S. international transactions accounts from an ownership point of view. This framework integrates information on trade in goods and services with sales by U.S. and foreign multinational enterprises through their affiliates in other countries and complements our traditional presentation of trade and income flows. Other international articles look at international transactions for the third quarter of 2018 and the net international investment position of the United States at the end of the third quarter.
We’re also pleased to present recently released estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) for the U.S. territories of American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. These estimates are produced in collaboration with the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs and with staff from the territorial governments.
In addition, our “GDP and the Economy” article discusses the third estimate of GDP for the third quarter of 2018.
Due to the recent partial shutdown of the federal government, BEA did not publish a January issue of the Survey. The February issue incorporates some articles that were scheduled to appear in January; the remaining articles will be published in March. The partial shutdown also affected some of our scheduled statistical releases. For details, see “BEA Economic Reports Delayed,” “New Dates Set for Some Delayed Releases,” and “New Dates Set for GDP, Personal Income, and International Trade” on the BEA website. An up-to-date release schedule is available here.
