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Capital Account

The balance-of-payments component that records net foreign purchases of domestic assets minus domestic purchases of foreign assets, plus changes in central-bank reserves. By the BoP identity, the capital account is the mirror image of the current account: a country running a current account deficit must, by accounting, run a capital account surplus of the same magnitude. The capital account is where the financing of trade deficits actually lives -- foreigners buying Treasuries, equities, real estate, or extending loans to domestic borrowers.

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