The calculation of the U.S.
trade deficit has not taken into account profit returns and intellectual
exports, which are highly profitable but usually uncountable by customs, China's
former top statistician said Sunday.
If calculated exactly, the profits from surging outbound investment, exports
of technologies, patent rights, cultural products and many other intangible
goods would have reduced the deficit, Li Deshui, ex-director of the National
Bureau of Statistics, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview at the on-going Boao
Forum for Asia (BFA) 2006.
The United States has not suffered from a serious economic depression
although it reported a trade deficit of 804.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2005, a
huge jump from the 39.1 billion U.S. dollars in 1992, Li recalled.
On the contrary, its overall economic growth stood at 3.6 percent last year,
slightly higher than that of 1992, and the national unemployment rate dropped to
5.1 percent from 7.5 percent, according to Li.
The deficit failed to calculate the massive profit returns of overseas-based
U.S. firms, Li noted, stressing that products shipped back to the United States.
have been unreasonably considered as imports.
Statistics from the United Nations show that overseas U.S. companies realized
a combined sales volume of 3,383 billion U.S. dollars in 2004, more than three
times the exports from its home firms.
A U.S. official report released last March said U.S. companies earned some
315 billion U.S. dollars from the overseas markets in 2003, up 26 percent
year-on-year, a large proportion of which had been transferred to the home
country.
In addition to the huge profit returns, the Chinese statistical expert also
highlighted the booming service trade such as the export of financial
consultancy, and the rocketing sales of U.S. cultural products, technologies,
patents, trademarks, and standards of various sectors.
"It is impossible for the U.S. customs to register the amount of money if
China purchases a movie from the United States," Li explained.
Asian nations have bought a great deal of national bonds and other assets
from the United States, which is another source of huge capital inflow that was
undercounted, he added.
According to the International Monetary Fund, the U.S. deficit of the overall
balance of payments was 1.5 billion U.S. dollars and 2.8 billion U.S. dollars in
2003 and 2004, respectively.
Such a basically balanced situation could explain why the country has
maintained rapid economic growth accompanied by a huge trade deficit, said Li.
The U.S. trade deficit, along with some other global economic challenges like
the soaring oil prices, has been widely viewed as a threat that could undermine
the world economy.