Trade in services of an economy includes exports and imports of services. Exports of services are the sales of services to the rest of the world, whereas imports of services are the purchases of services from the rest of the world.
For exports and imports of services, the service purchasers and the service providers usually remain in their respective economies. However, exports and imports of services may also take place when a service purchaser moves outside his/her resident economy and purchases services in another economy.
On the other hand, with increasing globalisation of the world economy, it becomes increasingly popular for multinational enterprises to provide services to customers in another economy through setting up affiliated companies abroad. In view of the growing importance of services supplied via this mode, the Census and Statistics Department has developed a statistical framework for compiling relevant statistics. Such statistics are known as "foreign affiliates statistics (FATS)".
According to the recommendations given in the Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services 2010, foreign affiliates covered in FATS refer to "majority-owned foreign affiliates", which are defined as firms with a single foreign investor, or an associated group of foreign investors acting in concert, owning more than 50% of the voting power.
For more information on FATS of Hong Kong, please refer to the feature article "Foreign Affiliates Services Statistics of Hong Kong" in the July 2024 issue of the Hong Kong Monthly Digest of Statistics.