Definition: Adjustments to a balance of payments basis

Category: External trade

Most Member States estimate the goods account of their balance of payments by making adjustments to their international trade statistics to meet the different definitions required for the balance of payments. (Belgium and Greece, however, use information on settlements.) In practice, these adjustments aim to convert the international trade statistics to the basis required for the national accounts since flows of goods and services are defined, in terms of coverage, in virtually identical fashion in the manuals relating to national accounts and balance of payment.