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, as 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 Bank of Spain is developing at present as a consequence of the interruption of the traditional system in place, which was largely based in the reporting of cross-border transactions by commercial banks classified according to statistical codes and that disappears 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, responsibility of INE, the direct reporting of foreign transactions and positions to Banco de España and the financial statements of credit entities. Therefore, until that moment, the figures and estimates of the Spanish Balance of Payments must be considered as provisional. During this transitional period, details corresponding to the item Other Services (tables 16 and 17) and to received loans by general government and other resident sectors (tables 30 and 31) will not be disseminated.