Preview of the 2026 Annual Update of the International Economic Accounts

By Mai-Chi Hoang and Arsene Oka  |  April 30, 2026

In June, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will release the results of the 2026 annual update of the U.S. International Transactions Accounts (ITAs) and the U.S. International Investment Position (IIP) Accounts.¹ Annual updates provide the opportunity to introduce improvements to the U.S. International Economic Accounts. The improvements are generally of three types: (1) statistical changes to introduce new and improved methodologies and to incorporate newly available and revised source data, (2) changes in definitions to portray more accurately the evolving U.S. economy and to provide consistent comparisons with statistics for other national economies, and (3) changes in presentations to reflect the definitional and statistical changes, where necessary, or to provide additional data or perspectives for users.² In addition, seasonally adjusted statistics are revised to reflect recalculated seasonal and trading-day adjustments.

With this year’s annual update, BEA will implement mostly statistical changes, as well as presentational changes related to a statistical change. These changes will include the following:

• Incorporating the results from BEA’s 2022 “Benchmark Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States” and 2023 “Benchmark Survey of Insurance Transactions by U.S. Companies with Foreign Persons.”
• Incorporating several improvements to the methodology for estimating transport services.
• Introducing newly available source data for U.S. financial-account transactions, positions, and income from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and implementing presentational changes in affected tables.
• Incorporating stock swaps into portfolio investment transactions.
• Discontinuing direct investment-related adjustments to other investment loan positions and transactions.
• Estimating reserve asset securities at market value.
• Incorporating improvements to the methodology for revaluing historical-cost foreign direct investment equity positions in the United States to market value.

BEA will also incorporate other newly available and revised source data, as well as recalculated seasonal and trading-day adjustments, beginning with statistics for 1999.

This article provides an overview of the changes that will be incorporated with the June 2026 annual update. An article in the Survey of Current Business in July 2026 will provide additional details on the changes. U.S. International Economic Accounts: Concepts and Methods will be updated in September 2026 accordingly.

BEA collects information on direct investment and trade in services through mandatory surveys of U.S. companies. In addition to quarterly and annual surveys, which collect information from a sample of companies whose transactions or positions are covered in the relevant ITAs or IIP Accounts, BEA also conducts benchmark surveys every 5 years to collect information from the entire population—or universe—of companies undertaking these transactions.³ BEA uses information collected on benchmark surveys to estimate transactions for companies that are not required to report on the quarterly sample surveys. Therefore, statistical coverage is complete whether the reference periods are covered by benchmark surveys or only sample surveys.

Statistics on direct investment positions, transactions in financial assets and liabilities, and related income receipts and payments for 2022–2025 will be revised to incorporate the results of BEA’s 2022 “Benchmark Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States.” This survey collected data on the finances and operations of U.S. affiliates of foreign multinational enterprises.⁴ Estimates for 2022–2025 income, transactions, and positions for U.S. affiliates that are not required to file the quarterly survey are currently based on the 2017 benchmark survey and will be replaced with estimates based on the 2022 benchmark survey.

Statistics on insurance services exports and imports for 2019–2025 will be revised to incorporate the results of BEA’s 2023 “Benchmark Survey of Insurance Transactions by U.S. Insurance Companies with Foreign Persons.” This survey covered all U.S. insurance companies that engaged in reinsurance transactions with foreign persons; that earned premiums from, or incurred losses to, foreign persons in the capacity of primary insurers; or that had receipts or payments for international auxiliary insurance services.⁵ Estimates for 2019–2025 insurance services exports and imports, as well as insurance-related transfers in secondary income, will be revised to incorporate the results from the 2023 benchmark survey.

Air passenger transport

Statistics on air passenger transport services cover (1) the transport of non-U.S. residents by U.S. air carriers between the United States and foreign countries and between two foreign points (exports) and (2) the transport of U.S. residents by foreign air carriers between the United States and foreign countries and between two foreign points (imports). BEA estimates these services by multiplying passenger counts on such carriers by an estimate of average fares that accounts for (1) the nationality of the carriers that operate each leg of a passenger’s itinerary and (2) the country of residence of foreign passengers.⁶ The source for passenger counts is the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS), collected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Average fares for exports are based on the Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ (BTS) Origin and Destination Survey and for imports are based on data from the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC) and on the import air passenger fare index from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. BEA also uses BTS and ARC data to estimate the nationality of the carriers that operate each leg of a passenger’s itinerary and the countries of residence of foreign passengers for exports.

With this annual update, BEA will incorporate (1) improvements to the air passenger transport methodology, including improved estimates of average fares beginning with 1999, and (2) more detailed passenger count data from APIS beginning with 2019. The APIS passenger data provide detail on passenger citizenship (U.S. versus foreign) cross-tabulated by direction of travel (arrivals versus departures). Prior to 2019, APIS passenger counts included only information on total arrivals and departures by passenger citizenship.

Sea transport

Statistics on sea transport cover freight services and port services. Freight services exports include receipts of U.S. vessel operators for transporting U.S. goods exports to foreign ports and transporting goods between foreign ports; freight services imports include U.S. payments to foreign vessel operators for transporting U.S. goods imports from foreign ports to U.S. ports.⁷ Freight services also include short-term operating leases of transportation equipment and crew, such as for a single voyage. Port services exports include the value of nonfuel goods and services procured by foreign carriers in U.S. ports; port services imports include the value of nonfuel goods and services procured by U.S. carriers in foreign ports. Estimates for exports and imports of sea freight and sea port services are based on CBP data on inbound and outbound vessel voyages to/from U.S. ports combined with data on vessel ownership from IHS Markit.

With the 2024 annual update, BEA (1) implemented the current method for estimating sea freight exports that imputes total freight charges (by multiplying freight rates with tonnage) for outbound voyages using information on freight charges in the inbound CBP data and (2) incorporated production process refinements for estimating sea freight and sea port services.⁸ These changes were incorporated for statistics beginning with 2021. With this annual update, BEA will extend these changes back to 2008 and introduce further refinements to the treatment of outliers and the method for combining CBP and IHS Markit data.

Revisions to air passenger and sea transport services will be reflected primarily in ITA table 3.1 and in related aggregates in other ITA tables.

BEA will introduce new source data for estimating U.S. financial-account transactions, positions, and primary income related to equity investments by the DFC.⁹ Since 2021, the DFC has invested nearly $2 billion in nonresident corporations under its equity investment program. These investments resulted in cross-border transactions and positions that are not currently fully captured in BEA’s statistics.

Beginning with statistics for 2022, BEA will record (1) DFC equity transactions as portfolio investment assets in the financial account of the ITAs and in the IIP Accounts and (2) related dividends received on equity investment in the current account of the ITAs. DFC transactions, positions, and income will be recorded in the general government sector. Estimates will be based on public reporting by the DFC.

The new statistics will be reflected primarily in ITA “Table 7.1. U.S. International Financial Transactions for Portfolio Investment” and “Table 4.3. U.S. International Transactions in Primary Income on Portfolio Investment by Sector” and in related aggregates in other ITA and IIP tables. In addition, BEA will expand tables 7.1 and 4.3 to include net acquisition of assets and income received by the general government, respectively. These tables currently present only net incurrence of liabilities and income paid by the general government. Lines will be added to these tables to include equity and investment fund shares asset transactions and income receipts in the general government sector. For a preview of the expanded tables, see prototype ITA table 4.3 and prototype ITA table 7.1 in BEA’s Interactive Data Application.

Stock swaps are financial transactions that arise when company shareholders exchange their existing shares for shares in another company and are commonly used in mergers and acquisitions (M&A). BEA records cross-border M&A activity (a foreign company purchasing a U.S. company or a U.S. company purchasing a foreign company) in direct investment equity. Additionally, prior to 2023, transactions were also recorded in portfolio equity when cross-border M&As included a stock swap component and shareholders of those companies included portfolio investors.

BEA in consultation with the Federal Reserve Board concluded that the Treasury International Capital System’s “Aggregate Holdings, Purchases and Sales, and Fair Value Changes of Long-Term Securities by U.S. and Foreign Residents” form (TIC SLT), which has captured data on portfolio investment equity transactions since 2023, does not include cross-border stock swaps.¹⁰ To close this data gap, BEA will use subscription-based data sources along with publicly available information to estimate stock swap transactions in the ITAs beginning with 2023. Estimates for transactions in securities through stock swaps along with estimates for other securities transactions will continue to be imputed from positions data in the TIC SLT prior to 2023.¹¹ The new statistics will be reflected primarily in ITA table 7.1 and in related aggregates in other ITA and IIP tables.

Currently, BEA uses information collected on its direct investment surveys—“Quarterly Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad” and “Quarterly Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States”—to adjust other investment data reported on the “Report of U.S. Dollar Claims of Financial Institutions on Foreign Residents” (TIC BC) and “Report of U.S. Dollar Liabilities of Financial Institutions to Foreign Residents” (TIC BL–1). These adjustments, which are subtractions from reported positions on the TIC BC and TIC B–1, were intended to prevent duplicative accounting for components of loans, namely equity in unincorporated affiliates and debt with foreign nonfinancial institutions. However, recent outreach by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) to respondents of the TIC surveys confirmed that unincorporated equity is not being reported on the forms. Therefore, there is no duplication between the TIC and BEA surveys. In the case of debt with foreign nonfinancial institutions, recent BEA analysis also revealed that there is an industry classification misalignment between TIC and BEA surveys, which contributed to the impression that these adjustments were needed. Beginning with 2023, BEA will discontinue these adjustments because there is no double counting. Revisions resulting from this change will be reflected primarily in IIP table 1.2 and ITA tables 4.4 and 8.1 and in related aggregates in other IIP and ITA tables.

Currently, most components of reserve assets are valued on a cash or amortized cost basis. (The exception is monetary gold, which is valued at market prices.) BEA will incorporate new source data from the FRBNY on reserve asset securities position at fair value as a proxy for market value position. This change in valuation will align BEA’s position statistics with guidelines from the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual, Sixth Edition (BPM6).

BEA will also incorporate other new source data that will bring its reserve asset statistics fully in line with BPM6 recommendations. BEA will incorporate new FRBNY data on interest accrued for securities, currency and deposits, and other claims, as well as new accrued interest data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to estimate special drawing rights holdings and the reserve position in the IMF. The new source data will allow BEA to improve its measure of transactions in securities and introduce new statistics for price changes in securities, which are currently estimated to be zero. The new source data will be incorporated beginning with 2025, the earliest period for which they are available.

The new statistics will be reflected primarily in ITA table 4.1 and IIP table 1.3 and in related aggregates in other ITA and IIP tables.

BEA reports statistics on direct investment equity positions in the International Economic Accounts at historical cost (book value), at current cost, and at market value. Positions collected on BEA’s surveys of direct investment are valued at historical cost, the primary basis used for valuation in company accounting records. BEA then revalues the book value positions to both current cost, which accounts for the replacement value of direct investment holdings in tangible assets such as equipment and inventories, and market value.¹² Since 1991, historical-cost direct investment equity positions are revalued to market value using stock market indexes. U.S. direct investment equity holdings abroad are revalued using foreign stock market indexes from MSCI, while foreign direct investment equity holdings in the United States are revalued using the S&P 500 index from S&P Dow Jones. Market value direct investment is the featured valuation in the IIP Accounts, aligning with the market valuation used for other functional categories of investment.

Rapid growth in certain sectors of the U.S. stock market in recent years prompted questions about the degree of alignment between the industry composition of the historical-cost direct investment equity positions and that of the S&P 500 index used for revaluation to market value. This investigation revealed growing misalignment. To adjust for these differences in industry composition, BEA will introduce an improved methodology for converting historical-cost statistics on foreign direct investment equity holdings in the United States to market value for their inclusion in the IIP Accounts. Industry-specific index components from S&P Dow Jones, weighted to align with the industry composition of the historical-cost equity positions, will replace the aggregate S&P 500 index as the basis for revaluation. This improved methodology will be applied to statistics beginning with 2020. Revisions resulting from this change will be reflected in IIP tables 1.1–1.3 and 2.1–2.2.

BEA continues to conduct research to holistically evaluate market valuation in the IIP statistics for both U.S. direct investment equity positions abroad and foreign direct investment equity positions in the United States.