News Release

These data have been superseded. Please see our latest releases for current estimates and contact information.

Explore Product View

EMBARGOED UNTIL RELEASE AT 8:30 a.m. EDT, Wednesday, March 29, 2023

BEA 23–11

U.S. International Investment Position, 4th Quarter and Year 2022

Fourth Quarter

The U.S. net international investment position, the difference between U.S. residents’ foreign financial assets and liabilities, was –$16.12 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2022, according to statistics released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Assets totaled $31.68 trillion, and liabilities were $47.80 trillion. At the end of the third quarter, the net investment position was –$16.84 trillion (revised). The net investment position and components of assets and liabilities are presented in table 1 XLSX.

Chart 1: U.S. Net International Investment Position: End of quarter, not seasonally adjusted

Chart 2: U.S. Assets and Liabilities: End of quarter, not seasonally adjusted

The $719.0 billion change in the net investment position from the third quarter to the fourth quarter came from net financial transactions of –$162.9 billion and net other changes in position, such as price and exchange-rate changes, of $881.9 billion. Net other changes mostly reflected global stock price increases and the appreciation of major foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar that raised the market value of U.S. assets more than U.S. liabilities, in dollar terms (table A).

Table A. Quarterly Change in the U.S. Net International Investment Position
[Billions of dollars, not seasonally adjusted]

	End of quarter position, 2022:Q3	Change in position in 2022:Q4			End of quarter position, 2022:Q4
		Total	Attributable to:
		Total	Financial transactions	Other changes in position ¹
U.S. net international investment position	–16,836.0	719.0	–162.9	881.9	–16,117.1
Net position excluding financial derivatives	–16,954.4	767.9	–156.0	923.9	–16,186.6
Financial derivatives other than reserves, net	118.4	–48.9	–6.9	–42.0	69.5
U.S. assets	29,729.9	1,950.2	(²)	(²)	31,680.1
Assets excluding financial derivatives	26,903.0	2,233.8	–302.6	2,536.4	29,136.8
Financial derivatives other than reserves	2,826.9	–283.6	(²)	(²)	2,543.3
U.S. liabilities	46,566.0	1,231.2	(²)	(²)	47,797.2
Liabilities excluding financial derivatives	43,857.4	1,465.9	–146.6	1,612.6	45,323.4
Financial derivatives other than reserves	2,708.5	–234.7	(²)	(²)	2,473.8
1. Disaggregation of other changes in position into price changes, exchange-rate changes, and other changes in volume and valuation is presented for annual statistics (see table C and table 2 in this release). 2. Financial transactions and other changes in financial derivatives positions are available on a net basis; they are not separately available for U.S. assets and U.S. liabilities. U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis

Chart 3: U.S. Assets by Category: End of quarter, not seasonally adjusted

Chart 4: U.S. Liabilities by Category: End of quarter, not seasonally adjusted

U.S. assets increased by $1.95 trillion to a total of $31.68 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter, reflecting increases in portfolio investment and direct investment assets that were partly offset by a decrease in financial derivatives.

Portfolio investment assets increased by $1.18 trillion to $14.07 trillion, and direct investment assets increased by $964.9 billion to $9.32 trillion, driven mainly by foreign stock price increases and by the appreciation of major foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar that raised the market value of these assets in dollar terms. Financial derivatives decreased by $283.6 billion to $2.54 trillion, driven mostly by decreases in foreign exchange contracts.

U.S. liabilities increased by $1.23 trillion to a total of $47.80 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter, reflecting increases in portfolio investment and direct investment liabilities that were partly offset by a decrease in financial derivatives.

Portfolio investment liabilities increased by $759.5 billion to $24.82 trillion, and direct investment liabilities increased by $662.9 billion to $12.19 trillion, driven mainly by U.S. stock price increases that raised the market value of these liabilities. Financial derivatives decreased by $234.7 billion to $2.47 trillion, driven mostly by decreases in foreign exchange contracts.

	Preliminary estimates	Revised estimates
Table B. Updates to Third-Quarter 2022 International Investment Position Aggregates [Trillions of dollars, not seasonally adjusted]
U.S. net international investment position	–16.71	–16.84
U.S. assets	29.73	29.73
U.S. liabilities	46.44	46.57
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis

Year 2022

The U.S. net international investment position was –$16.12 trillion at the end of 2022, compared to –$18.12 trillion at the end of 2021. The net investment position and components of assets and liabilities are presented in table 2 XLSX.

The $2.01 trillion change in the net investment position from the end of 2021 to the end of 2022 came from net financial transactions of –$677.1 billion and net other changes in position, such as price and exchange-rate changes, of $2.68 trillion (table C).

Price changes of $4.12 trillion mostly reflected U.S. stock and bond price decreases that exceeded foreign stock and bond price decreases, which lowered the market value of U.S. liabilities more than the market value of U.S. assets. Exchange-rate changes of –$1.16 trillion reflected the depreciation of major foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar, which lowered the value of foreign-currency-denominated U.S. assets in dollar terms.

Changes in volume and valuation n.i.e. (not included elsewhere) of –$411.4 billion mostly reflected a series break in portfolio investment that resulted from data revisions by respondents on the monthly Treasury International Capital SLT report for June 2022.

The revised position data for June and for prior periods will be incorporated into the international investment position statistics as part of the annual update in June 2023.

U.S. assets decreased by $3.39 trillion to a total of $31.68 trillion at the end of 2022, mostly reflecting decreases in portfolio investment and direct investment assets that were partly offset by an increase in financial derivatives.

Portfolio investment assets decreased by $2.24 trillion to $14.07 trillion, and direct investment assets decreased by $1.65 trillion to $9.32 trillion, driven mainly by foreign stock price decreases and by the depreciation of major foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar that lowered the market value of these assets in dollar terms. Foreign bond price decreases also contributed to the decrease in portfolio investment assets.

The impact of foreign stock and bond price decreases and foreign currency depreciation was partly offset by financial transactions, mostly increases in direct investment equity assets and U.S. purchases of foreign equity and long-term debt securities.

Financial derivatives increased $555.9 billion to $2.54 trillion, driven by increases in single-currency interest rate contracts and foreign exchange contracts.

Table C. Annual Change in the U.S. Net International Investment Position
[Billions of dollars ]

	Yearend position, 2021	Change in position in 2022						Yearend position, 2022
		Total	Attributable to:
			Financial transactions	Other changes in position
			Financial transactions	Total	Price changes	Exchange- rate changes	Changes in volume and valuation n.i.e.
U.S. net investment position	–18,124.3	2,007.2	–677.1	2,684.3	(¹)	(¹)	(¹)	–16,117.1
Net position excl. derivatives	–18,144.2	1,957.6	–596.0	2,553.6	4,120.7	–1,155.7	–411.4	–16,186.6
Financial derivatives, net	19.9	49.6	–81.0	130.7	(¹)	(¹)	(¹)	69.5
U.S. assets	35,065.5	–3,385.3	(²)	(²)	(²)	(²)	(²)	31,680.1
Assets excl. derivatives	33,078.0	–3,941.2	919.8	–4,861.0	–3,501.6	–1,261.6	–97.8	29,136.8
Financial derivatives	1,987.5	555.9	(²)	(²)	(²)	(²)	(²)	2,543.3
U.S. liabilities	53,189.7	–5,392.5	(²)	(²)	(²)	(²)	(²)	47,797.2
Liabilities excl. derivatives	51,222.1	–5,898.8	1,515.8	–7,414.6	–7,622.3	–105.9	313.6	45,323.4
Financial derivatives	1,967.6	506.2	(²)	(²)	(²)	(²)	(²)	2,473.8
1. Data are not separately available for price changes, exchange-rate changes, and changes in volume and valuation n.i.e. (not included elsewhere). 2. Financial transactions and other changes in financial derivatives positions are available on a net basis; they are not separately available for U.S. assets and U.S. liabilities. U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis

U.S. liabilities decreased by $5.39 trillion to a total of $47.80 trillion at the end of 2022, reflecting decreases in portfolio investment and direct investment liabilities that were partly offset by increases in financial derivatives and other investment liabilities.

Portfolio investment liabilities decreased by $3.66 trillion to $24.82 trillion, and direct investment liabilities decreased by $2.63 trillion to $12.19 trillion, driven mainly by U.S. stock price decreases that lowered the market value of these liabilities. U.S. bond price decreases also contributed to the decrease in portfolio investment liabilities.

The impact of U.S. stock and bond price decreases was partly offset by financial transactions, mostly foreign purchases of U.S. long-term debt securities and increases in direct investment equity liabilities.

Financial derivatives increased $506.2 billion to $2.47 trillion, driven by increases in single-currency interest rate contracts and foreign exchange contracts. Other investment liabilities increased $390.5 billion to $8.32 trillion, reflecting increased U.S. borrowing in the form of loans and deposits.

Next release: June 28, 2023, at 8:30 a.m. EDT
U.S. International Investment Position, 1st Quarter 2023 and Annual Update

Full Release & Tables (PDF)

Tables Only (Excel)

Release Highlights (PDF)

Release Highlights (Annual) (PDF)

U.S. Direct Investment Abroad Statistics

Foreign Direct Investment in the United States Statistics

Technical

Rebecca Pocase

301-278-9082

Rebecca.Pocase@bea.gov

Technical

Elena Nguyen

301-278-9555

Elena.Nguyen@bea.gov

Direct Investment

Doug Weinberg

301-278-9590

Douglas.Weinberg@bea.gov

Media (BEA)

Connie O’Connell

301-278-9003

Connie.OConnell@bea.gov

Resources

The full economic effects of the COVID–19 pandemic cannot be quantified in these statistics, because the impacts are generally embedded in source data and cannot be separately identified. For more Information about COVID-19 impacts, refer to Federal Recovery Programs and BEA Statistics on our website.
Stay informed about BEA developments by reading the BEA Wire, signing up for BEA's email subscription service, or following BEA on Twitter @BEA_News.
Historical time series for these estimates can be accessed in BEA's Interactive Data Application.
Access BEA data by registering for BEA's Data Application Programming Interface.
For more on BEA's statistics, see BEA's online journal, the Survey of Current Business.
For upcoming economic indicators, see BEA's news release schedule.
More information on the International Investment Position Accounts and a description of the estimation methods used to compile them is provided in U.S. International Economic Accounts: Concepts and Methods.

Definitions

The international investment position (IIP) is a statistical balance sheet that presents the dollar value of U.S. financial assets and liabilities with respect to foreign residents at a specific point in time. BEA presents IIP statistics at the end of a quarter or year (March, June, September, and December). For the March and June releases, BEA also presents statistics on changes in the yearend position that are disaggregated into financial transactions, price changes, exchange-rate changes, and changes in volume and valuation not included elsewhere (n.i.e.).

The U.S. net IIP is defined as the value of U.S. assets less the value of U.S. liabilities.

Financial transactions are transactions between U.S. residents and nonresidents in financial assets and liabilities. They are also recorded in the financial account of the International Transactions Accounts (ITAs). See "Related statistics" below.

Other changes in position are changes in the value of U.S. assets or liabilities arising from any source besides a financial transaction. Other changes in position include price changes, exchange-rate changes, and changes in volume and valuation n.i.e.

Price changes (only presented for annual statistics in the March and June news releases) are changes in the value of an asset or liability due to changes in the market price of a financial instrument.

Exchange-rate changes (only presented for annual statistics in the March and June news releases) are changes in the value of foreign-currency-denominated assets and liabilities due to changes in the values of foreign currencies relative to the value of the U.S. dollar.

Changes in volume and valuation n.i.e. (only presented for annual statistics in the March and June news releases) reflect changes in position due to year-to-year shifts in the composition of reporting panels, the incorporation of more comprehensive annual and benchmark survey results, and revaluations (holding gains and losses) on assets and liabilities that are not explained by price changes or exchange-rate changes.

Functional categories are the primary classification system used in the IIP Accounts and in the financial account of the ITAs. The five functional categories are direct investment, portfolio investment, financial derivatives other than reserves, other investment, and reserve assets. While the functional categories are based on features that are relevant for understanding cross-border financial transactions and positions, they also take into account some aspects of the relationship between transactors and the economic motivation for the investment. Within the functional categories, the IIP Accounts are classified by type of financial instrument.

Direct investment is a category of cross-border investment associated with a resident in one economy having control or a significant degree of influence on the management of an enterprise resident in another economy. Ownership or control of 10 percent or more of the voting securities of an entity in another economy is the threshold for separating direct investment from other types of investment. Direct investment positions include positions in equity and debt instruments. BEA's IIP statistics feature the market value measure of direct investment positions, a measure that values owner's equity at current-period prices using indexes of stock market prices.

Portfolio investment consists of cross-border positions involving equity and investment fund shares and debt securities, excluding those included in direct investment or reserve assets. Debt securities are classified by original maturity (short term versus long term at the time of issue).

Financial derivatives other than reserves consist of cross-border positions arising from financial contracts that are linked to underlying financial instruments, commodities, or indicators. Positions in financial derivatives consist of contracts with positive and negative fair values. A contract with a positive fair value is a U.S. asset and represents the amount that a foreign resident would have to pay to a U.S. counterparty if the contract were terminated or settled. A contract with a negative fair value is a U.S. liability and represents the amount that a U.S. resident would have to pay to a foreign counterparty if the contract were terminated or settled. The gross positive (negative) fair value is the sum across all contracts with positive (negative) fair values. Fair values differ from notional values, which are the underlying amounts used to calculate payments on contracts. Gross positive and gross negative fair values for financial derivatives positions are available separately in table 1. However, transactions and other changes in financial derivatives positions are only available for the net position in financial derivatives. For other changes in position for financial derivatives, statistics are not separately available for price changes, exchange rate changes, and changes in volume and valuation n.i.e.

Other investment includes cross-border positions other than those included in direct investment, portfolio investment, financial derivatives, and reserve assets. Other investment positions consist of positions in other equity (equity not in the form of securities), currency and deposits, loans, insurance technical reserves, trade credit and advances, and, for liabilities, special drawing rights allocations.

Reserve assets are those external assets that are readily available to and controlled by U.S. monetary authorities for meeting balance-of-payments financing needs, for intervention in exchange markets to affect the currency exchange rate, and for other related purposes such as maintaining confidence in the currency and the economy and serving as a basis for foreign borrowing. The major published components are monetary gold, International Monetary Fund (IMF) special drawing rights, reserve position in the IMF, and other reserve assets.

Release and update schedule

Preliminary quarterly IIP statistics are released in March, June, September, and December, approximately 90 days after the end of the reference quarter. These statistics are updated the following quarter to incorporate new and revised source data. Quarterly statistics are open for revision for at least the prior 3 years in annual updates released in June. Preliminary annual statistics are released in March reflecting positions at the end of the fourth quarter of the previous year. These annual statistics are open for revision for at least the prior 3 years in subsequent annual updates.

Related statistics

The IIP statistics comprise one part of a broader set of U.S. International Economic Accounts that, taken together, provide a comprehensive, integrated, and detailed picture of U.S. international economic activities.

The ITA statistics are released quarterly. Financial transactions reported in the financial account of the ITAs are one type of change in position recorded in the IIP. Financial transactions are transactions between U.S. residents and nonresidents for direct investment, portfolio investment, other investment, reserve assets, and financial derivatives.

Statistics on direct investment and multinational enterprises (MNEs) include annual statistics on the activities of U.S. MNEs and U.S. affiliates of foreign MNEs, detailed annual and quarterly statistics on direct investment, and annual statistics on new foreign direct investment in the United States.

Statistics on international services include detailed annual information on trade in services and on services supplied through the channel of direct investment by affiliates of MNEs.

U.S. international trade in goods and services, released by BEA and the U.S. Census Bureau, provides monthly statistics on trade in goods and services.