The Balance of Payments Textbook, like the Balance of Payments Compilation Guide, is a companion document to the fifth edition of the Balance of Payments Manual. The Textbook provides illustrative examples and applications of concepts, definitions, classifications, and conventions contained in the Manual and affords compilers with opportunities for enhancing their understanding of the relevant parts of the Manual. The Textbook is one of the main reference materials for training courses in balance of payments methodology.

The relevance of the standard measures of international transactions in goods and services as reflected in the fifth edition of the IMF Balance of Payments Manual (BPM) and in the 1993 System of National Accounts (SNA) has been questioned in several recent studies and articles. Alternative measures have been proposed, that either (i) substitute an ownership basis for transactions for the long-established residency basis; (ii) maintain the residency basis but combine net direct, investment income with goods and services; or question the validity of any measures in the form of net balances as a guide to policy. This paper affirms the central role of residency in the international accounts, discusses the supplementary value of alternative proposals, and notes the importance of international efforts to improve and refine the measurement of external transactions based on the principles of the BPM and SNA.

Composed of international economic transactions data, BOPS delivers critical statistical information that covers: total goods, services, income, and current transfers an economy receives from or provides to the rest of the world; capital transfers and changes in each economy’s external financial claims and liabilities; tables featuring area and world totals of balance of payments; and IIP components and aggregates. The IMF Balance of Payments Statistics contains over 200,000 quarterly and annual time series data. The data include aggregate as well as detailed information in the form of analytical and standard component presentations for countries. Additional documentation is included with descriptions of methodologies, compilation practices, and data sources used by individual member countries in compiling their balance of payments and international investment position statistics.

A companion document to the fifth edition of the Balance of Payments Manual, the Balance of Payments Compilation Guide shows how the conceptual framework described in the Manual may be implemented in practice. The primary purpose of the Guide is to provide practical guidance for using sources and methods to compile statistics on the balance of payments and the international investment position. the Guide is designed to assist balance of payments compilers and statisticians in understanding the relative strengths and weaknesses of various approaches. The material reflects the emergence of new data sources and adaptations in the application of statistical methodologies to changing circumstances. Discussed in the Guide are all of the tasks that a BOP compiler normally performs. Appendices contain a set of model BOP questionnaires and a set of model BOP publication tables. Relationships between the balance of payments statistics and relevant aspects of national accounts are covered as well.

The fifth edition of Balance of Payments Manual, issued in 1993, presents revised and updated standards for concepts, definitions, classifications, and conventions for compilation of balance of payments and international investment position statistics that reflect the widespread changes that have taken place in international transactions since the fouth edition was published in 1977. As the international standard, the Manual serves as a guide for IMF member countries that regularly report balance of payments data to the IMF. The Manual contains significantly expanded and restructured coverage of financial flows and stocks and international transactions in services. Harmonization with the System of National Accounts and other IMF statistical systems is also greatly increased. See also companion volumes, the Balance of Payments Compilation Guide and the Balance of Payments Textbook.

The Annual Report of the IMF Committee on Balance of Payments Statistics (Committee) for 2010 provides an overview of recent trends in global balance of payments and international investment position (IIP) statistics, including the latest developments in data from the Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey (CPIS). Furthermore, the report summarizes the Committee’s work program during 2010, and reviews the issues the Committee plans to address in the coming year.