In a nutshell, the United States has been  2  BIS Review 38/2008  running a very sizable current account deficit for a number of years, while most of the rest of the world – especially Asia and oil-exporting countries – has been running current account surpluses.
Large imbalances such as these are not sustainable over long periods, so the question arises: what needs to be done to effect an orderly resolution? Two main adjustments are needed. First, those countries with large surpluses need to rely more on domestic demand as a source of growth, and those with deficits (mainly the United States) need to increase their national savings rate.