Introduction to Balance of Payments and
International Investment Position Manual,
6th Edition
and BPM6 Compilation Guide
Workshop on the Sixth Edition of the Balance of Payments and
International Investment Position Statistics Manual – BPM6
Beirut
March 24-26, 2015
Introduction
• Balance of Payments and International Investment
Position Manual, 6th Edition, 2009
• Converting member countries’ data to BPM6
• A new BPM6 Compilation Guide, 2014
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Why a New Manual?
• Take into account economic developments associated with
globalization;
• Take into account financial and technological innovation;
• Increase emphasis on the international investment position
(IIP) and related development of the balance sheet
approach (BSA);
• Clarify selected areas (e.g., residence, economic ownership,
and scope of direct investment);
• Strengthen integration between statistics
• Deal with the special topics related to currency unions and
other regional monetary and economic arrangements.
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Key Influences:
• The basic framework in BPM6 is unchanged from
BPM5.
• Closer links with the System of National Accounts
(SNA).
• Links with other Manuals:
– 2013 External Debt Statistics: Guide for Compilers and Users
– The Guidelines for the Reserve Data Template - updated in 2013
– 2010 Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services
– The Government Finance Statistics Manual (2014), the Monetary and
Financial Statistics Manual and Compilation Guide (Draft 2014), and
Financial Soundness Indicators Guide (2005)
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Converting member countries’ data
to BPM6
• BPM6 data published by STA as of end-February, 2015:
– BOP 83
– IIP 67
• Challenge: countries adopt BPM6 at different times.
• For many decades, the IMF has published data for its
members on a basis that is consistent across countries and
across time periods in order to perform cross-country data
comparisons and produce regional or global data aggregates.
• IMF started publishing data for all countries on a BPM6 basis
with the August 2012 release of IFS and the online BOPS.
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Converting member countries’ data
to BPM6
• STA grouped countries into three categories for the purpose
of conversion to BPM6:
– report data to STA based on BPM6
– “generic” conversion of their data to a BPM6 basis for the transition
period
– “customized” conversion of the data, by adjusting the results from the
generic conversion in consultation with the IMF
• STA produced a Conversion Matrix from the BPM5 to the
BPM6
– BPM6–CG, Appendix 1
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/bop/2014/pdf/BPM6_A1F.pdf
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
• To assist users in understanding the impact of conversion to
BPM6 and methodological changes from BPM5 to BPM6, STA
has prepared a set of FAQs. They are organized into the
following sections:
1. methodology (i.e., the impact of BPM6 on high level
aggregates and on individual accounts);
2. presentational changes (i.e., the impact of BPM6 on sign
conventions, account titles, and other presentational changes);
3. information on statistical data publications; and
4. how to request assistance and further information.
• Available at http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/bop/2007/bpm6faq.pdf
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Selected FAQs
• Q1. What will be the impact of BPM6 conversion on major BOP
current account aggregates, including imports (or payments),
exports (or receipts), and balances on goods, services, primary and
secondary income; and on capital account and financial account
transactions and balances? Also, what will be the impact of BPM6
conversion on major IIP aggregates (assets, liabilities, and net IIP)?
• Q2. Where can I see the full range of changes from BPM5?
• Q3. One of the most significant changes in BPM6 is the treatment
of goods for processing (GFP), i.e., goods that are processed under
contract for an explicit fee by a nonresident processor, where the
goods being processed do not change ownership. Can you explain
the treatment of GFP under BPM5, BPM6, and in customs filings?
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Selected FAQs
• Q4. A significant change under BPM6 is in the treatment of goods
under merchanting, i.e., goods that are purchased by a resident (of
the compiling economy) from a nonresident combined with the
subsequent resale of the same goods to another nonresident,
without the goods being present in the compiling economy. Can
you explain the treatment under BPM5, BPM6, and in customs
filings?
• Q5. BPM6 introduces financial intermediation services indirectly
measured (FISIM). Could you explain the treatment of FISIM under
BPM5 and BPM6?
• Q6. A significant methodological change in BPM6 involves
insurance transactions. Could you briefly explain the differences in
the treatment of insurance transactions between BPM5 and BPM6?
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Selected FAQs
• Q8. In BPM6, personal transfers in the secondary income include
workers’ remittances, but are not confined to transfers within
families and income from employment only. BPM6 also introduces
supplementary data related to cross-border employment to
compile personal remittances. Could you explain the changes from
BPM5 to BPM6, and how personal remittances are distinguished
from workers’ remittances and personal transfers?
• Q9. In BPM6, the personal effects, financial assets, and liabilities of
persons changing their economic territory of residence (migrants’
transfers) are no longer included in the balance of payments as
capital transfers (and the counterpart entries are no longer included
in goods imports or exports, financial account transactions, etc.).
Could you explain the reason for the different treatments under
BPM5 and BPM6?
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Selected FAQs
• Q11. A significant change in BPM6 involves foreign direct
investment (FDI). Could you explain the treatment of FDI
under BPM5 and BPM6, including the treatment of fellow
enterprises?
• Q13. A methodological change in BPM6 involves debt arrears.
Could you explain the treatment of arrears, including arrears
in interest and in principal, under BPM5 and BPM6?
• Q17. Could you explain changes introduced in the “sign
convention” to be applied in reporting data?
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BPM6 Compilation Guide
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Why a BPM6 Compilation Guide?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Show how the conceptual framework of BPM6 can be implemented
in practice
Not intended to be a stand-alone document; users of the BPM6 CG
should be familiar with BPM6
Assist compilers in understanding the various compilation methods
available to prepare the international accounts
Can be of interest to users who are interested in the nature and
quality of data sources and methods underlying international
accounts and related national accounts tables
Articulation of BOP and IIP compilation methodology
– is difficult because countries have developed procedures independently and
each national compilation system may be considered unique
Not possible to present a single compilation system suitable in all cases;
the BPM6 CG outlines various options that may be available
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Structure of the BPM6 CG
• The BPM6 CG consists of 17 chapters and 8 appendixes
• Chapters and appendices are grouped by content:
• Chapters
– Overview of main data sources
– Compilation practices
• Appendices
– Specific BOP and/or IIP issues
– 23 Sample model forms
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Selected Key Topics Covered by the BPM6 CG
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Chapter 2 – How to Conduct a Survey
• Creating and updating a survey frame
– Statistical legislation
– Statistical frame and sources of information for
developing a business register
– Collection strategy: census; partial coverage collection
survey; random sample survey; stratified random
sample
– Computerizing the survey frame
• Draft survey questionnaires
• Discussions with key respondents
• Editing/validating collected data
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Chapter 3 – Specific Surveys
• Collections on goods and services statistics
– present the types of surveys aimed to collect data on goods, including
goods under merchanting; different services, e.g., transport, travel,
insurance, and other types of services
• Collections on primary and secondary income statistics
– present surveys of transactions associated with foreign workers,
primary and secondary income, and with private aid and charity
• Collections on external assets and liabilities
– present surveys of businesses that can be used to measure positions;
financial transactions; investment income; financial services; and
withholding taxes associated with liabilities to, and claims on,
nonresidents
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Chapter 3 – Specific Surveys
• Collections on international activity associated with securities
– discuss surveys that are used to collect data and also approaches to
measure liabilities to, and claims on, nonresidents
– examine the role of financial intermediaries and their impact on the BOP
• Collections of data on financial derivatives
– present a survey of holdings and of transactions in financial derivatives
contracts with nonresidents
• Collections from persons and households
– present the primary types of household collections such as migration
statistics, alternative statistics on across-the-border movements, survey of
travelers, survey of foreign assets (including foreign bank accounts) and
foreign liabilities (including loans), and other household collections
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Chapters 6 and 7
Chapter 6: Data from Official and Administrative Sources
• Discusses the various administrative and official sources that
could be used as sources of data such as:
– Data on the general government and central bank
Chapter 7: Selected IMF and Other International Organizations’
Data Collection Initiatives
• Examines the data collected by international organizations
such as:
– OECD – Development Assistance Data
– the Bank for International Settlement (BIS) International Banking
Statistics
– the World Bank’s external debt statistics
– the IMF databases
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Chapter 9–The International Investment
Position
• Provides practical advice on how an economy
might improve the availability of external position
data
– using available data - the first phase in developing IIP
statistics
– developing survey/reporting systems for compiling
comprehensive IIP statements – the subsequent phase
• In discussing data sources, the chapter identifies
– domestic sources of data, which are already available
for other statistical systems
– foreign sources from international organizations
– administrative sources
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Chapter 9–The International Investment
Position
Separate parts are dedicated to:
• Deriving Quarterly Stocks from Quarterly Transactions
• Other Changes in Financial Assets and Liabilities Account
– changes in financial positions that arise for reasons other than
transactions between residents and nonresidents;
– two broad categories are described
• Revaluations
– Exchange rate changes
– Other price changes
• Other changes in volume of financial assets and liabilities
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Chapter 10 – The Financial Account
• Identifies the data sources and discusses compilation issues, as
well as the various techniques that could be employed when
source data are unavailable or deficient
• The chapter is sub-divided according to the five functional
categories of investment in the international accounts
• The chapter includes text boxes that elaborate on subjects
such as:
– production sharing arrangements and direct investment
– deriving transactions using data on positions
– general methods for estimating fair value of portfolio investment
debt
– recording a forward contract in the international accounts
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Appendixes
1. Conversion Matrix from the BPM5 to the BPM6
2. Insurance Transactions and Positions, and Pension
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Schemes
Financial Intermediation Services Indirectly Measured
(FISIM)
Foreign Direct Investment
Compiling Balance of Payments and IIP by Partner
Economy
Linkages with Other Macroeconomic Datasets
Balance of Payments Coding System
Model Survey Forms
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