Hong Kong's balance of payments surplus hits $94bn

Hong Kong recorded a surplus of 94.3 billion HK dollars (about 12.15 billion U.S. dollars) in its balance of payments account in the fourth quarter of 2012, compared with the previous quarter's 37.9 billion HK dollars, the city's Census & Statistics Department said Thursday.For 2012 as a whole, the balance of payments surplus stood at 188.9 billion HK dollars, compared with a surplus of 86.8 billion HK dollars in 2011.A current-account surplus of 9.6 billion HK dollars was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2012, compared with a surplus of 18.3 billion HK dollars a year earlier.X The department attributed the drop to an increase in the visible trade deficit and an increase in the net outflow of secondary income, partly offset by an increase in the invisible trade surplus and an increase in the net inflow of primary income.With imports of goods increasing faster than exports of goods, the visible trade deficit increased from 10.4 billion HK dollars in the fourth quarter of 2011 to 31.6 billion HK dollars in the same quarter of 2012. The invisible trade surplus increased from 33.1 billion HK dollars to 41.4 billion HK dollars, as exports of services increased while imports of services decreased.Overall, a combined visible and invisible trade surplus of 9.8 billion HK dollars was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2012, compared to 22.7 billion HK dollars for the same quarter of 2011. (1 U.S. dollar = 7.762 HK dollars)