Director’s Message
In this issue of the Survey of Current Business, we present separate articles on U.S. International Transactions Accounts (ITA) statistics and U.S. International Investment Position (IIP) Accounts statistics for the third quarter of 2021. With the third-quarter statistics, the Bureau of Economic Analysis introduced two new ITA tables and two new IIP tables. These tables fulfill commitments to the International Monetary Fund Task Force on Special Purpose Entities and the G–20 Data Gaps Initiative. The tables on special purpose entities provide a new perspective on an important and growing class of enterprises that are included in direct investment statistics, and the table on U.S. debt positions is valuable for assessing U.S. exposure to foreign currency risks and financial stability.
Our “GDP and the Economy” article this month details the third estimates of the National Income and Product Accounts, also for the third quarter of 2021.
