BOP Statistics, Publications & Databases

As the Manual was revised in 1993, BOP statistics might lose (some) comparability over time and between countries, due to the facts that (i) countries implement new guidelines at different points of time, and (ii) as they do, a few countries only will have the resources needed to revise their BOP statistics backwards to gain consistent time series.

Statistics for countries which reports to the IMF are published monthly in the International Finance Statistics (IFS), and in more detail in the Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook. Historical data in the funds Balance of Payments database has been converted through 1994 from the basis of BPM4 to the basis of BPM5 (in a mecanical way), thus the time-series presented in the publications conform to the methodology of the 5th edition with no methodological breaks. And, for countries which have not yet adopted the standard of the 5th edition (which includes a new presentation and requires the development of some new data sources and compilation procedures), the IMF will continue the same method as used for historical data to convert current year data compiled according to the 4th edition to the basis of the 5th edition.

Data presented by the IMF are for the most part based on BOP reports from member countries. Certain details may however be taken from published sources, and as explained above, rearranged to make the data conform as close as possible to the standard.

The BOP statistics are compiled either in local/national currencies or in US dollars. If the data reported to the IMF are in local currency, the IMF will convert it into US dollar before it enters their database. The average market exchange rate for the period (year, quarter, month) which the BOP statistics covers, and the market exchange rate at the point of time when the IIP statement was made is applied for this purpose.

The World Bank's Live Database (LDB) stores BOP statistics as reported by the country managements teams in the Bank. The data are in US-dollars terms.

Balance of payments data in the World Banks and the IMF databases should be identical, as both organizations collect their data from the central banks or statistical offices in the member countries. However, some differences might exist due to vintage, to change in unit of account which is done separately, due to aggregation, and due to IMF's translation of BOP statistics compiled according to BPM4 into BPM5 standard.

There are several sources of data used for the compilation of Balance of Payments statistics. The main sources most commonly used are International Trade Statistics, data from the International Transaction Reporting System, and Enterprise Surveys.

Weaknesses in Data

Data may be unreliable because the information is not properly collected, or because the source does not provide complete coverage. This might in turn be due to (i) incomplete costumes reports as border monitoring is not adequate, (ii) incomprehensive ITRS data as some financial transactions are settled outside the banking system, and (iii) general problems with enterprise surveys. The integrity of data can also be compromised if transactions are not fully reported, if underreporting is a problem. For instance is unmeasured capital flight a major problem in countries where confidence in the domestic currency is low. Also problems related to valuation might lead to weaknesses in data. Valuation of barter trade is an issue, as countries apply different methods to estimate/measure it (although transaction prices should be used).

A short description of country practice on compilation methodologies and data sources can be found in the IMF's Balance of Payments Statistical Yearbook, Part 3.