Italy - Balance of payments

Italy did not have serious balance of payments problems since the mid-1970s. Exports soared since 1992, turning Italy's balance of payments positive. The growth in exports has been extremely strong in the northeast, where small and medium-sized companies produce high quality and low cost products—ranging from industrial machinery to ski boots—for French, German, Japanese, and Indian customers.

Italy had current account surpluses from 1993 to 1999, but in 2000 the country registered a $5.6 billion deficit, after an $8.2 billion surplus in 1999.

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reports that in 2002 the purchasing power parity of Italy's exports was $259.2 billion while imports totaled $238.2 billion resulting in a trade surplus of $21 billion.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reports that in 2001 Italy had exports of goods totaling $242.4 billion and imports totaling $226.6 billion. The services credit totaled $57.5 billion and debit $57.4 billion. The following table summarizes Italy's balance of payments as reported by the IMF for 2001 in millions of US dollars.

Current Account	-163
Balance on goods	15,862
Balance on services	203
Balance on income	-10,280
Current transfers	-5,949
Capital Account	846
Financial Account	-3,211
Direct investment abroad	-21,758
Direct investment in Italy	14,874
Portfolio investment assets	-36,167
Portfolio investment liabilities	29,329
Other investment assets	717
Other investment liabilities	10,233
Net Errors and Omissions	1,940
Reserves and Related Items	588