Balance of Payments and International Investment Position statistics (BoP/IIP) from IMF

“The Balance of Payments provides a framework that is applicable for a range of economies, from the smallest and least developed economies to the more advanced and complex economies. As a result, it is recognized that some items may not be relevant in all cases.

The balance of payments is a statistical statement that summarizes transactions between residents and nonresidents during a period. It consists of the goods and services account, the primary income account, the secondary income account, the capital account, and the financial account.

Under the double-entry accounting system that underlines the balance of payments, each transaction is recorded as consisting of two entries and the sum of the credit entries and the sum of the debit entries is the same.

The different accounts within the balance of payments are distinguished according to the nature of the economic resources provided and received.”

“The International Investment Position (IIP) is a statistical statement that shows at a point in time the value of:

Financial assets of residents of an economy that are claims on nonresidents or are gold bullion held as reserve assets; and the liabilities of residents of an economy to nonresidents. The difference between the assets and the liabilities is the net position in the IIP and represents either a net claim on or a net liability to the rest of the world. The IIP represents a subset of the assets and liabilities included in the national balance sheet. In addition to the IIP, the national balance sheet incorporates nonfinancial assets as well as financial assets and liabilities positions between residents.”

Availability and data source

The IMF data on balance of payments and international investment positions is available here- http://data.imf.org/?sk=7A51304B-6426-40C0-83DD-CA473CA1FD52&ss=1409773422141

The data is prepared in accordance with the 6^th edition of the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual. The handbook can be accessed here, http://data.imf.org/?sk=7A51304B-6426-40C0-83DD-CA473CA1FD52&ss=1390288795525

BoP data is available for approximately 204 economies, while IIP data is available for approximately 143 economies. Data is available for most countries from the year 1945.

Definitions

BoP is a flow while IIP is a stock. Although the balance of payments accounts are, in principle, balanced, imbalances result in practice from imperfections in source data and compilation. This imbalance, a usual feature of balance of payments data, is labeled net errors and omissions and should be identified separately in published data. It should not be included indistinguishably in other items. Net errors and omissions are derived residually as net lending/net borrowing and can be derived from the financial account minus the same item derived from the current and capital accounts.

Series available (BoP)

Sr no	Main series	Sub-category	Description of specific series available
1	Current Account	Goods and services	Three series available for both goods and services (six total). They are broken down into Goods, Credit; Goods, Debit; Goods, balance; Services, Credit; Services Debit; Services, Balance.
2	Current Account	Primary income	Three series available for goods and services of Primary Income: Credit, Debit, and Net
3	Current Account	Secondary Income	Three series available for goods and services of scondary Income: Credit, and Debit, and Net.
4	Capital Account	Capital transfers	Three series available for the capital account: Credit, Debit, and Net
11	Financial account	Financial derivatives	Two series available for Financial Account. Financial Derivatives and employee stock options: assets and Liabilities
12	Financial account	Other investment	There are seven series available: other investment assets: equity, debt instruments, and net; and other investment liabilities for other equity, debt instruments, and net. and balance on current capital and financial account.
13	Financial account	Portfolio investment	Six series avaiable: total portfolio investestment assets, equity and investment fund shares assets, debt securities assets, total portfolio investestment liabilities, equity and investment fund shares liabilities, debt securities liabilities.
14	Financial account	Reserve assets	Reserve Assets with Fund Record totals.
18	Net errors and omissions	Errors and omissions	Net errors and omissions reflect the imbalances resulting from imperfections in source data and compilation of the balance of payments accounts.

 

Series available (IIP)

Sr no	Main series	sub-category
1	Assets	Direct investment
2	Assets	Financial assets
3	Assets	Financial derivatives
4	Assets	Other investment
5	Assets	Portfolio investment
6	Assets	Reserve assets
7	Assets	supplementary items
8	Assets	Total Assets (1+2+3+4+5+6+7)
9	Liabilities	Direct investment
10	Liabilities	Financial derivatives
11	Liabilities	Other investment
12	Liabilities	Total Liabilities (9+10+11)

Instructions for Pulling BoP Raw Data

1. Go to http://data.imf.org/?sk=7A51304B-6426-40C0-83DD-CA473CA1FD52
2. Click on "API & Bulk Download"
3. Click on the "Bulk Download (entire dataset)" icon
4. Login with your .edu email address. If you do not have one. You can set one up for free as long as you use and email that ends in ".edu"
5. All countries is selected by default. Unless you are pulling specific countries, this is correct.
6. Click on indicators and select the indicators of interest. The indicators above are all found under the first two tabs. Make sure you deselect the variables that are not of interest.
7. Click okay. the download will begin.
8. When the download is complete. You will receive an email, or you can click "My Data" in the top right hand corner.