Balance of payments and international investment position

In 2014 the European Union Member States will implement the methodology of the 6th edition of the Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6) in a coordinated manner with the entry into force of the manual of the European System of National and Regional Accounts (ESA 2010). Spain, like other European countries, will start disseminating Balance of Payments data according to the BPM6 in September or October 2014.

At that same time, the changes arising from the new data collection system that the Banco de España is developing at present as a consequence of the interruption of the traditional system in place, which was largely based on the reporting of cross-border transactions by commercial banks classified according to statistical codes and which has been discontinued due to the development of the Single European Payments Area (SEPA), will also be implemented. In the new system, this source will be replaced by different subsystems, among which the following can be highlighted: the International Trade in Services and Other Transactions Survey (under the responsibility of INE), the direct reporting of foreign transactions and positions to the Banco de España and the financial statements of credit institutions. Therefore, until that moment, the figures and estimates of the Spanish Balance of Payments must be considered as provisional.

All methodological changes to be introduced in the Balance of Payments data published in September-October 2014 will be described in detail in the annual publication Balanza de Pagos y Posición de Inversión Internacional de España, which will be published in June 2014.