Manual on "Accession countries: balance of payments/international investment position statistical methods"

The European Central Bank has today published the manual on "Accession countries: balance of payments/international investment position statistical methods", which was prepared in close co-operation with the accession countries whose contributions are gratefully acknowledged.

This manual describes balance of payments (b.o.p.) and international investment position (i.i.p.) statistical methods in the accession countries (the countries that have applied to join the European Union, namely Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia). The manual provides a basis for monitoring harmonisation across European countries. The underlying methodological standards, as set out in the IMF Balance of Payments Manual (5th edition), are briefly reviewed in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 describes the b.o.p. and i.i.p. statistical methods in the 12 accession countries. It covers the concepts and definitions and their compliance with international standards, as well as the data collection and compilation systems applied in these countries.

It is intended to update the manual at regular intervals in the future.

The manual is primarily intended for use by central banks, statistical institutes and international organisations.

It is available on the ECB's website (http://www.ecb.europa.eu) (pdf 1136 kB).

Hard copies may be ordered from the ECB, at the following address: