Current account

Balance of payments component covering goods, services, primary income (wages and investment income), and secondary income (transfers). Trade balance is one part of the current account.

A country's current-account balance equals its goods balance plus services balance plus primary income balance (returns on foreign investments, wages of cross-border workers) plus secondary income (remittances, foreign aid). A country can run a goods deficit but a current-account surplus if its services exports and investment income are large — Germany and Japan are textbook cases.